Outgoing UK PM Starmer announces £298 billion defence investment plan

Britain’s caretaker Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, on Tuesday unveiled a major defence spending plan with a focus on boosting the country’s drone warfare capabilities as his leadership legacy.

In one of his final big-ticket policy interventions after he announced his resignation last week, Starmer said the ‘Defence Investment Plan’ will be backed by 298 billion pounds of investment across the next four years.

He also tabled 15 billion pounds of additional spending in the wake of criticism from within his Cabinet over inadequate funds to ensure the UK was fully equipped to fight modern-day wars with cutting-edge abilities.

“This record investment puts the security of the British public first, transforming our armed forces and giving them the funding and equipment they need to fight and defend our nation,” said Starmer.

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“The world is a more dangerous and volatile place, so it is only right we are boosting the number of troops on the ground, rebuilding ammunition stockpiles and investing in cutting-edge technology to ensure we outpace our adversaries for generations to come,” he said.

The outgoing leader said the UK’s defence spending was ”on track” with an increase to 2.7 per cent of GDP, against a backdrop of US President Donald Trump demanding members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) spend 5 per cent of GDP on defence by 2035.

According to a Downing Street statement, over 5 billion pounds for the next four years will fund a drone transformation for the UK’s armed forces.

“As part of this, 650 million pounds will deliver inexpensive expendable autonomous systems, including drones and uncrewed ground vehicles, to rapidly enhance the lethality of the Army, Commando Force and Special Forces,” it stated.

More than 8 billion pounds is earmarked for the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) over the next four years, which is building a ”next-generation stealth fighter jet for the Royal Air Force (RAF)” alongside Japan and Italy.   ”I have boosted defence spending to the highest level since the Cold War – and today’s Defence Investment Plan goes further still, committing almost 300 billion pounds over this Parliament to transform our armed forces,” said UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves, who is also expected to be shuffled out of the Cabinet when a new leader replaces Starmer by mid-July.

“Embrace new technology, I am equipping our forces with the autonomous systems which will give them the edge. This extra money and these choices send a clear signal to our allies and our adversaries alike: Britain is stepping up on security,” added Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis.

The ‘Defence Investment Plan’ is expected to create around 60,000 extra direct and indirect UK industry jobs by the end of the decade.

It was accompanied by the announcement of a new 50-billion-pound defence export facility established by UK Export Finance to support British defence firms to win contracts across the globe.

This will support British defence companies of all sizes and strengthen the UK’s competitiveness in a rapidly growing market, the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) noted.

Around 115 million pounds has been set aside to raise the UK’s defences against threats from artificial intelligence (AI), including using AI to improve biosecurity and mitigate risks posed by autonomous AI agents.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Firstpost staff.)