UK defence secretary promises delayed investment plan before Nato summit | Politics
New defense secretary Dan Jarvis has pledged to publish his delayed defense investment plan (Dip) ahead of the NATO summit in two weeks, amid signs he has achieved nearly a billion more than his predecessor John Healey.
As negotiations between the Ministry of Defense (MoD) and the Treasury continue, a source in Andy Burnham’s team says Keir Starmer is happy to have a final deal signed as he faces his final days as prime minister.
Speaking at a military think tank conference, Jarvis said: “I had 12 days but I made the most of them all and I’m currently working with the Prime Minister to complete and publish Dip before I head to Ankara.”
The NATO summit in the Turkish capital, one of Starmer’s last international duties as prime minister, will be held on 7 and 8 July. If there is no contest, Burnham would take over at the end of the following week on 17 July.
The minister stressed that he would not get the deal done “at any cost” but also acknowledged that “no defense review or funding deal can erase the accumulated legacy of negligence of previous governments”.
Healey resigned earlier this month after the department failed to provide more than £13.5bn to cover an £18bn funding gap for the plan covering major capital programs over the next 10 years.
Jarvis is understood to have already secured at least £14 billion as part of the negotiations. But it’s unclear whether Jarvis gets more money for the total defense budget. Starmer had proposed increasing this figure by £2bn to 2.68% of GDP by 2030.
NATO has a long-term target for allies to reach 3.5% of GDP by 2035, but there were concerns in the Ministry of Defense that the proposed solution would leave a commitment too large to be met after the next general election.
“We have a job to do to chart that trajectory that will take us to 3% and then 3.5%,” Jarvis said, adding that it was a conversation he hoped to have with Burnham during the next Whitehall spending review.
Jarvis, who hopes to keep his job if Burnham takes control at No 10, said: “My job is to take the debate to the next prime minister to ensure defense is the number one priority in the next spending review.”
Little is known about Burnham’s thoughts on defence, and there are concerns within the Ministry of Defense that the former Manchester mayor will reopen the defense spending deal agreed in Starmer’s final days.
But Burnham’s allies said such concerns were misplaced and would prefer to see a resolution to the funding dispute, which includes a 1% cut to other departments’ capital budgets, and for the investment plan to be published before he takes over.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves made similar comments but did not say whether more money had been offered. He told the House of Commons that he had spoken to Jarvis and the chief of the defense staff, Sir Richard Knighton.
In response to questions from the Undersecretariat of Treasury, he said, “I am confident that the New Dip will be published before the NATO Ankara summit. It will involve more money being spent more effectively and will meet the scale of the challenges our country faces.”
Starmer’s spokesman said the government’s final days of business would continue as normal but there would be “no new major policy or spending commitments initiated during this period”.
However, the Number 10 spokesman also reiterated that Dip, which has been the subject of more than six months of negotiations within the government, will be revealed before the Ankara summit, implying that it is not seen as a major new commitment.
