Cooper heaps pressure onto Starmer and Burnham over defence spending
Yvette Cooper has piled pressure on Sir Keir Starmer, who backed the former defense secretary in the row over defense spending.
John Healey resigned as defense secretary earlier this month over Sir Keir’s much-anticipated Defense Investment Plan (DIP), which he claimed did not provide enough funding for the British military.
In an intervention on Friday, the foreign secretary warned the DIP “must go further” and also pressed Sir Keir’s potential successor Andy Burnham to draw up defense plans and increase spending.
The Prime Minister is set to publish the plan ahead of next month’s NATO summit.
In an interview with ITV, Ms Cooper said: “So there are a number of things that we will need to be able to continue with as part of the Defense Investment Plan, but we will also need to go further. “We are.
“This is the reality of the challenges we face in terms of security, global instability and conflicts. So as a country we need to face this reality, which means we need to go further in defense spending.”
Mr Healey resigned as defense secretary because the long-delayed military investment plan would deliver an extra £13.5 billion over four years, well short of the £28 billion officials claimed.
He argued that the UK was on track to spend just 2.68 per cent of GDP on core defense by 2030, casting doubt on the country’s ability to meet the NATO target of 3.5 per cent by 2035.
Asked whether Mr Burnham would have to deal with the issue of defense spending in his first weeks as prime minister, Ms Cooper said: “We will have to get to 3 per cent. We have made a longer-term commitment to get to 3.5 per cent. We have to do that.”
“We will have to increase our defense spending, so of course all of this will have to be constantly reviewed and constantly improved.
“We’re going to have to do this. I don’t think we have a choice as a country.”
Ms Cooper this week backed Mr Burnham to become the next prime minister, saying she had spoken to the former mayor and he was “100 per cent behind our unwavering support for Ukraine”.
Although Mr Burnham will form his own cabinet in Cabinet No 10, some expect Ms Cooper to remain in government due to her experience.
Sir Keir has promised to publish the DIP ahead of the NATO leaders’ summit on 7 July; although the task of implementing it will probably be left to his successor, Mr Burnham, and he may have a different view.
Speaking during a visit to Milton Keynes on Thursday, Sir Keir said continuing the publication of the plan was the right move.
He told broadcasters: “Everyone understands why it is important that we spend the money we need to spend on our armed forces and that is why I intend to publish this ahead of the NATO summit.
“This is the time to broadcast that as NATO countries, the most effective military alliance the world has ever seen, we will come together to share our capabilities and make sure we emerge from this summit stronger as a military power.”
But Downing Street could not rule out any rise in DIP following Mr Healey’s resignation.
Asked whether the government would still rule out any increase to the £13.5bn extra investment offered to Mr Healey, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “The defense minister [Dan Jarvis] He said he had been working very closely with his colleagues in the government, with the prime minister, with the chancellor, and that there had been good and constructive meetings between the chancellor and the defense minister in the last few days.
“The Minister of Defense has made clear that he is determined to secure the best possible deal as quickly as possible.”
Asked if there would be any rise, the spokesman said: “I will not comment before the DIP is published.”
