On Wednesday, it was reported that Chancellor Rachel Reeves was considering tax rises to fund defence and later that day, Keir Starmer refused to rule it out when asked at PMQs by Kemi Badenoch.
Commenting on this report, Richard Fuller, Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury said:
Welfare and debt interest costs are soaring as a result of the policies of Chancellor Rachel Reeves - adding to the pressures on the economy from the conflict in the Middle East.
She has been dragging her feet over the Defence Investment Plan (or “DIP”), leaving our defence sector scratching their heads about where to invest and our country further exposed.
Now the Chancellor seems to be saying she has run out of your - the taxpayers’ - money AGAIN. So she is coming back to raise taxes AGAIN.
This Labour government will happily dole out money on benefits but won’t fund our defence. Talk about having the wrong priorities!
On Thursday, John Healey resigned as Defence Secretary following Keir Starmer’s failure to fund defence. In his resignation letter he said Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have been ‘unwilling to commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country’.
Al Carns also resigned as Armed Forces Minister this week saying the Defence Investment Plan is not built for the threats we face and is underfunded. He also gave an excoriation of Labour’s terrible Northern Ireland Troubles Bill. The Bill removes the protections Conservatives put in place for Northern Ireland veterans, and opens the door to lawfare and politically motivated, vexatious claims that risk dragging elderly veterans into court rooms.
It is clear that the Defence Investment Plan is in complete disarray. Labour are not funding defence because they are choosing to spend all of the country’s money on benefits. While dithering and delaying on defence spending, Labour have spent £19 billion more on benefits and scrapped the two-child limit.
