Minister calls on Burnham to show path to 3.5% target on UK defence spending | Defence policy

New defense secretary Dan Jarvis has called on Andy Burnham to dramatically increase defense spending from 2030 and “prove the trajectory” towards a NATO target that would mean £25bn more a year for the military by the middle of the next decade.

The former paratrooper said he was confident the prime minister valued national security because he was openly lobbying for cash that was likely to come from cuts elsewhere.

“What I would certainly like to see is that at the next spending review we allocate resources to evidence the trend towards 3.5%. [of GDP]Jarvis spoke ahead of the annual NATO summit, which starts in Ankara on Tuesday.

Jarvis, who wants to remain in office, has already been in contact with Burnham and her team to discuss defense priorities and the £298bn four-year defense investment plan (Dip) which was finally published last week after months of ministerial wrangling.

“I have known Andy for a very long time and I have no doubt that, as prime minister, he will ensure that we have the resources we need in a time of difficulty,” Jarvis said.

“The world is absolutely more dangerous and more complex than it has ever been in my lifetime,” he said, as Russian warships and shadow squadron ships circled the UK accused of launching drones over RAF Lakenheath.

Britain is preparing for its most significant sustained deployment in years to protect the Strait of Hormuz in a joint operation with France if the US and Iran agree to a sustainable peace, amid reports that Downing Street has excluded Burnham from detailed planning.

Jarvis will travel to Ankara with Starmer and Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper. He said he would reassure his US counterpart Pete Hegseth that the UK would meet its 3.5 per cent spending commitment agreed last year under pressure from Donald Trump.

“I will give it to him [Hegseth] A commitment to deliver on the promises we made, the commitments we made to the United States and our NATO allies,” Jarvis said of the biggest increase in military spending since the second world war.

Jarvis’s predecessor, John Healey, resigned last month after Starmer pledged to increase defense spending to just 2.68% of GDP by 2030, leaving a steep curve to reach the 3.5% target in 2035.

The incoming defense secretary has secured a modest further £1.5bn over the next four years, partly as part of a £298bn defense investment plan to increase spending on drones, but this increase has had a negligible impact overall.

It sparked a backlash after it was revealed that spending on roads and other capital programs had been cut and a £4.7bn gap under Burnham’s first budget had to be filled by the Treasury.

Burnham, a former Greater Manchester mayor and health minister, has little background in defense or foreign affairs. But he said in an interview on Thursday that he would “fully fund” his defense investment plan and that “the security of the nation will not be compromised” if he becomes prime minister.

Meeting the NATO commitment will require a £25 billion shift of resources towards defence; this will be paid for by cutting spending elsewhere, extra taxes or higher borrowing; but there is currently limited room to significantly increase debt.

Jarvis said he had acknowledged to the public and his cabinet colleagues that “what I had to do was to present the case for defence”. He said leaving a funding shortfall for the next budget was “completely routine in terms of Whitehall accounting” and that the delayed Dip was required to be published ahead of the NATO meeting.

“I don’t think we should be distracted from the fact that we are spending more money and sharpening our capabilities in a short period of time,” Jarvis said, citing the fact that he had allocated around £600 million extra money for drones after spending much of his early days investigating how they were used in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Jarvis said he was able to pick up Dip where Healey had failed because he ensured “negotiations with the Treasury were conducted in the most constructive and productive way” in a series of meetings with Chancellor Rachel Reeves.

The Treasury ultimately approved an extra £15bn for defense by 2030; This was £1.5bn more than Healey had achieved, but not as much as the £18bn originally sought in negotiations that began months earlier.

Jarvis first learned that Healey had quit while visiting the Sandhurst training academy for military officers; This was 30 years after he first arrived as a student. “My phone was ringing,” he said, but he was actually given the news, which was a “huge shock” when someone came to tell him the news.

Starmer personally offered him the cabinet job at Downing Street that evening, which he said “felt like a huge moment because I’ve been thinking about these things for over 30 years” and said it dated back to his time in the military.

The Minister was commissioned in the Parachute Regiment, where he served in Kosovo, Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan before resigning in 2011 to become MP for Barnsley Central and now Barnsley North. He also served as mayor of South Yorkshire and served as security minister before being promoted.

Jarvis said Starmer immediately accepted the job offer and did not consider it appropriate to demand more money for defense as a precondition for acceptance. “This was not a transactional conversation,” he said.

He added that he was keen to stay at Burnham; The Makerfield MP will have spent five weeks in the role on the first day he could reach 10th place. “That decision will be made by Andy Burnham,” he said. “I hope I have the opportunity to continue to serve.”