Appearing at Prime Minister’s Questions ahead of his visit to the US, Sir Keir was asked by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch if the defence spending plans would allow the Government to “effectively” fund the commitment to put British troops on the ground in Ukraine.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) was among the critics of the Government’s sums, and accused ministers of playing “silly games with numbers” over their claim that the defence spending increase to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 would mean £13.4 billion more would be spent on defence every year.
French President Emmanuel Macron pushed for security guarantees to enforce peace in Ukraine as he preceded Sir Keir in meeting US President Mr Trump this week.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast on Wednesday morning, Defence Secretary John Healey was asked about criticism of the defence spending figures and said “the definition of defence numbers can be done in different ways”.
Pushed on whether the £13.4 billion figure would be correct if the assumption was that the Government did not increase the defence budget year on year in line with inflation, Mr Healey said: “That’s a cash number.”.
