‘We cannot defend Britain with an ever expanding welfare bill’: Not the Daily Mail’s words but those of the ex-Labour minister Starmer tasked with writing his defence review – and who has now lost all confidence in dithering PM

Two former Labor defense ministers have called on ministers to cut welfare to increase spending on Britain’s security.

Britain’s national security remains ‘at risk’ as Labor fails to deliver on promises to increase defense spending, former Nato chief Lord Robertson said in a harrowing speech.

The Labor leader, who wrote the Government’s strategic defense review last year, accused Rachel Reeves of blocking funding for the armed forces and called on ministers to free up cash by cutting the bloated aid budget.

‘The cold truth of today’s dangerous world is that we cannot defend Britain with an ever-expanding welfare budget,’ he told an audience in Salisbury.

‘The UK’s welfare budget is five times what we currently spend on defence. So I ask, are we sure that what is jeopardizing people’s future safety and security while maintaining an increasingly unsustainable welfare bill is the right priority?’

Asked how he received criticism from Defense Secretary John Healey, Lord Robertson said: ‘[He was] You’re extremely angry at me, but sometimes you just need to say something.

‘My country is in danger, so I felt I had to speak out. ‘This will be uncomfortable in the short term, but in the long term they know what they have to do.’

He added that ‘many soldiers died’ during the war in Afghanistan because of the Labor government’s failure to act on defense procurement.

Taking aim: Then-defense minister George Robertson in the Challenger tank in 1999

He was supported by his Labor colleague Lord Hutton, who served as both defense and work and pensions minister in the last Labor government.

Lord Hutton called on Sir Keir to address the issue as a “defining moment in his premiership” and said he had “a very, very short time to get this right and send the signals to Putin that Britain is serious about defending itself”.

He told Times Radio that the Government ‘needs to get the rising welfare budget under control’. But almost two years later he warned there was ‘no real sign that there is any agenda to fix the very rapid increase in welfare payments’.

On Tuesday night, former Labor deputy leader Harriet Harman suggested testing the pension triple lock, telling the BBC: ‘If you’re strapped for cash and need to divert some money to defence, that’s one of the places to look.’

Despite warnings, it has been revealed that the Treasury is pressuring the Ministry of Defense to come up with £3.5 billion in cuts this year; This is almost the full cost of the Chancellor’s recent decision to scrap two child benefit caps.

Kemi Badenoch warned that Labour’s indecision on the issue had now become an ‘existential’ problem for the country, saying: ‘We must spend more on defence.’

The Conservative leader added: ‘The government does not have a defense investment plan. ‘There is a welfare plan that extends to 2031, but no defense plan.’

Ms Badenoch reiterated her bid to work with Labor to push for benefit cuts to free up defense resources.

‘We used to spend one in every seven pounds on welfare,’ he said. ‘It’s now one in every three pounds and a lot of that money has been changed basically for defence.’

Shadow defense secretary James Cartlidge said it was ‘extraordinary’ that the Treasury was demanding cuts to defense to remove the two-child limit, which would provide thousands of pounds of extra help to some of Britain’s biggest unemployed families.

Mr Cartlidge told the Daily Mail: “The fact that you are seeing cuts to the Ministry of Defense at a time when there are two wars shows that the Treasury is running a defense policy.”

‘The defense was paralyzed,’ he said. ‘They need to control themselves. This means making tough decisions on spending so that the Department of Defense can finally start ordering the munitions we need; Without this munition, this country is at greater risk than it should be.

Soldiers from 16 Air Assault Brigade (16 Air Asslt Bde) jump from a Royal Air Force (RAF) A400M transport aircraft onto Salisbury Plain at Copehill Down training facility on 30 March 2026

‘A former Labor defense minister says benefits are being cut to fund defence. We need the current defense minister to knock on the door of the Treasury and say ‘enough is enough’. ‘Let’s make some tough decisions and cut benefits to fund defense.’

Last year defense secretary John Healey told MPs he would publish the ten-year Defense Investment Plan by the autumn.

But the deadline came and went amid bitter infighting in Whitehall over how to pay for it. Downing Street could not say yesterday when it would be published, despite it having been on the Prime Minister’s desk for months.

Ministers are grappling with how to fill the £28bn black hole in defense funding over the next four years.

Ms Reeves warned she would not risk breaking her financial rules by borrowing money. The Chancellor has also signaled that he will not look again at future defense spending until a comprehensive spending review planned for the summer of 2027.

Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden is working on a welfare reform package but has warned against trying to find significant savings this year after a failed attempt to cut £5bn from the budget led to a humiliating U-turn at the hands of Labor backbenchers last year.

Lord Robertson warned on Tuesday that the Government could not afford to further delay a decision on defense spending.

In his speech, he said ‘corrosive indifference’ at the top of government was putting Britain ‘in danger’ at a time when it was ‘under attack’.

Pointing to the Chancellor, he accused ‘non-military experts at the Treasury’ of ‘vandalism’.

The expert warned: ‘We three reviewers, a former defense secretary, a former general and a current foreign policy guru, have been employed by Keir Starmer and John Healey to look at every aspect of UK defence, with the help of more than 150 experts and an unprecedented public consultation.

‘If our recommendations are implemented, we can be prepared against a rival like Russia or China after 10 years. ‘What’s happening in the world today doesn’t give us anything like ten years.’

The Daily Mail has kept up the pressure on the Government to increase spending through our ‘Don’t Leave Britain Vulnerable’ campaign.

Downing Street rejected the suggestion that the government’s indecision was putting Britain at risk.

But Lord Robertson’s analysis was backed by other senior defense figures.

General Sir Richard Barrons, one of the authors of the government’s strategic defense review, said there was ‘a huge gap between where we need to be to keep the country safe in the world we live in now and where we actually are’.

Tan Dhesi, Labor chairman of the Commons defense committee, which is trying to persuade Ms Reeves to give evidence about the funding crisis, said it was ‘devastating that a man of (Lord Robertson’s) stature and experience had to speak out to get his message across’.

But the current First Sea Lord, General Sir Gwyn Jenkins, insisted there was no complacency at the top of the government and told MPs: ‘This could not be taken more seriously at this time. ‘I see no signs of complacency in anyone I work with or advise.’