Rishi Sunak panned after 'desperate' £75 billion defence spending pledge

RISHI Sunak has been accused of hiding behind a “desperate smoke screen” after he announced the UK will spend 2.5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) on defence by 2030 – an extra £75 billion in spending over the next six years.

The SNP said the Tories were guilty of a “hollowing out of the armed forces” and said that spending was going into the wrong areas.

It comes after the Prime Minister re-commited to a target set by Boris Johnson in 2022.

Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt had previously only said the 2.5% goal would be met when the economic conditions allow.

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But committing to 2030 is unlikely to appease some on the Conservative benches who have been pushing for at least 3% to be spent on defence at a time when Vladimir Putin’s Russia is waging war on European soil.

Sunak set out the plan at a joint appearance with Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg at a military base in Warsaw, Poland.

Under the new spending plan, the UK defence budget will increase immediately and then rise steadily to reach £87bn at the end the decade.

Sunak told the press conference in a military hangar: “We did not choose this moment but it falls on us to meet it.

“In a world of increasing threats we must show our enemies that we are resolute and determined, that their attempts to destabilise our world and redraw its borders by force will fail.

“That with our friends and our allies, we will be at the forefront of the defence of the free, democratic world.

“Under my leadership, the UK will always stand up for our interests, deter our enemies and defend our values.”

He warned about the threats facing the world from “an axis of authoritarian states” including Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea, which are not “far away problems” but “pose real risks to the United Kingdom’s security and prosperity”.

Sunak intervened when Stoltenberg (below) was asked how reassured he could be by the UK’s announcement of increased defence spending when there could be a new government taking office later this year.

It “wouldn’t be appropriate” to draw the Nato Secretary-General into domestic politics, the Prime Minister said.

Responding to the announcement, the SNP’s defence spokesperson at Westminster, Martin Docherty-Hughes MP said the UK’s military capacity had been “decimated by successive Tory and Labour Westminster governments who’ve left us weak in the face of rising threats close to home”.

He went on: “The hollowing out of the armed forces won’t be reversed with a desperate smoke screen that will continue to see billions wasted on weapons of mass destruction, all while our infantry numbers sit at their lowest level in centuries.

“Our dwindled armed forces, currently being left to put up with deteriorating living conditions and materiel supplies, won’t be made stronger while Labour and the Tories remain committed to sending billions into a nuclear blackhole.

“Nor will we be taken seriously by those who threaten our security while we remain led by the Westminster parties responsible for a lack of transparency and accountability at the heart of the MoD.

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“An independent Scotland would stand with its Nato partners in shoring up the conventional defences of our nation and allies in a way that addresses and meets our unique defence capability needs.”

Elsewhere in his press conference, Sunak acknowledged that defence accommodation is not always “fit for standard”.

Speaking directly to British armed forces personnel on a military base in Warsaw, the Prime Minister said he and other Government leaders were “determined to put that right”.

Sunak also announced that investments in weapons firms are to be considered “ethical” under newly altered criteria in a bid to boost private sector spending on defence.