Starmer says he wants UK to be fastest military innovator in Nato
Starmer says the world has changed, and that means “the front line, if you like, is here”.
He says the strategic defence review is “a blueprint to make Britain safer and stronger, a battle-ready, bomb-clad nation with the strongest alliances and the most advanced capabilities, equipped for the decades to come”.
He says the government will deliver three fundamental changes.
First, it is moving to war-fighting readiness.
We are moving to war-fighting readiness as the central purpose of our armed forces.
When we are being directly threatened by states with advanced military forces, the most effective way to deter them is to be ready, and frankly, to show them that we’re ready to deliver peace through strength.
Second, everything the government will do will add to the strength of Nato, he says.
And, third, the government will “accelerate innovation at a wartime pace”, he says. He says he wants the UK to be “the fastest innovator in Nato’.
Key events
As mentioned earlier, the Ministry of Defence has been press releasing bits from the strategic defence review for days now (see 8.09am), ahead of the release of the review to MPs this afternoon. This is the sort of media management that infuriates Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons Speaker, who regularly points out that this is a breach of the ministerial code.
Today Hoyle has got his revenge by granting two urgent questions – one from Jesse Norman, shadow leader of the Commons, who is asking for a statement on “government announcements outside the House of Commons”, and another from Tan Dhesi, the Labour chair of the defence committee, who is asking for a statement on the future of the nuclear deterrent. This seems to be a reference to yesterday’s Sunday Times story saying “Britain wants to purchase fighter jets capable of firing tactical nuclear weapons, in a major expansion of the deterrent.”
Having two UQs means that John Healey, the defence secretary, won’t be able to start his statement on the strategic defence review at 3.30pm. Instead, he will have to wait until about 5pm before he can get started.
Reform UK has joined the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives in saying the government should issue a firmer commitment to getting defence spending up to 3% of GDP. Richard Tice, the Reform deputy leader, said:
The commitments made in this defence review are completely empty if Labour does not commit to spending 3% of GDP on defence. Clearly, their previous promises were not worth the paper they were written on.
The Liberal Democrats issued their own statement this morning. (See 9.22am.) Last night James Cartlidge, the Tory defence spokesperson, said:
All of Labour’s strategic defence review promises will be taken with a pinch of salt unless they can show there will actually be enough money to pay for them. Whereas, far from guaranteeing the funding, John Healey has been hung out to dry by Rachel Reeves.
Cartlidge was referring to claims that Healey, the defence secretary, backtracked on Sunday in what he was saying about the government’s ambition to get defence spending up to 3% of GDP. (See 9.12am.)
Here is a clip from Keir Starmer’s speech this morning.
IFS director Paul Johnson says welfare plans and higher defence spending make ‘chunky tax increases’ likely
You may wonder how Keir Starmer expects “every citizen” to contribute to the defence of the UK. (See 12.24pm.) Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, has provided one answer – paying more tax.
In an interview with Times Radio, Johnson said that he thought the government would need to announce “chunky tax increases”. He said:
It looks like the government wants to reinstate the winter fuel payment. It’s thinking about the two-child limit for benefits. We’ve got a spending review next week. And if we’re really going to spend another £10-15bn a year on defence, whilst inevitably we’re going to spend more and more on health and pensions and so on, you really do have to ask that question, what are the choices that you’re going to make?
And, bluntly, it really does seem to me that the only choice that is available, if we’re going to go through all of those things, is some really quite chunky tax increases to pay for it. But, of course, that’s not something the prime minister or the chancellor is willing actually to say.
The IFS and Stop the War are not normally seen as ideological bedfellows, but in his interview Johnson also backed one of the arguments being made by Stop the War about the strategic defence review. (See 12.14pm.) He said spending money on weapons is not the best means of promoting growth.
[Higher spending on defence procurement] will certainly help in particular localities … But is spending this money on defence specifically the best way of achieving growth? No, of course it’s not, because if you wanted to achieve growth, then you would spend that money on things that were directly related to that.
What Starmer said about ‘every citizen’ having a role to play in the defence of Britain
Downing Street has published the text of Keir Starmer’s speech this morning about the strategic defence review.
Here is the passage in full where he said “every citizen” has a role to play in the defence of the country. (See 10.12am.) He said:
Nothing works unless we all work together.
From every man and woman serving in uniform,
To the workers building the next generation of subs in Barrow …
From the brilliant workers and apprentices right here in Govan …
Building the new Type 26 frigates – like the two you can see being built behind me today …
To our tech experts, our scientists, our engineers –
Who are pioneering battlefield innovations and cyber defences –
Every part of society …
Every citizen of this country …
Has a role to play.
Because we have to recognise that things have changed.
In the world of today –
The front line, if you like, is here.
The threat we now face is more serious, more immediate and more unpredictable…
Than at any time since the Cold War.
Stop the War says raising defence spending while cutting welfare ‘grotesque’, claiming Russia poses ‘no threat to London’
The Stop the War campaign has said that the government’s plans to raise defence spending while cutting welfare are “grotesque”. It also says that moving the UK to “war-fighting readiness” (see 10.18am) only makes conflict more likely, and that Russia “poses no threat to Warsaw or Berlin, let alone London”.
In a statement about the strategic defence review, Chris Nineham, the group’s vice chair, said:
Increasing defence spending to up to 3% of GDP, procuring more and more weapons of war, including the commissioning of 12 new attack submarines, investing £1.5bn for more munitions factories and £15bn for nuclear weapons production, and all the while slashing welfare, is simply grotesque.
Keir Starmer, John Healey and the Ministry of Defence have spent the days before the release of this spending review painting a picture of the most heightened military and security threat since the end of the cold war. They say they want the UK to move to ‘war-fighting readiness’, but talking up a new era of threat while tying an ailing economy even more to military production only makes the threat of war more likely.
The reality is that Russia’s economy is roughly the size of Spain and Putin is vastly outnumbered militarily by Nato powers. He has barely occupied 18% of Ukraine and poses no threat to Warsaw or Berlin, let alone London.
The pledges in this review are even more grotesque given the eye-watering record profits being made by the arms manufacturers and their shareholders as a result of the endless conflicts which are only perpetuated by these levels of increased defence spending – paid for with our tax pounds and by slashing the welfare budget.
The claim that building more munitions factories and submarines will help British jobs should fool no one. As the Alternative Defence Review explains, military spending generates a smaller economic multiplier than any other public investments, meaning it generates less overall economic activity and fewer secondary benefits than spending on essential services and infrastructure.
Spending on agency staff across NHS in England drops by almost £1bn
Spending on agency staff across the NHS in England dropped by almost £1bn in the last financial year, ministers have said, after a pledge by Wes Streeting to cut the amount going to agencies by 30%, Peter Walker reports.
Prison officers’ union dismisses Robert Jenrick’s call for guards to be given access to guns
Rajeev Syal
Rajeev Syal is the Guardian’s home affairs editor.
The prison officers’ union has poured cold water on the Tories’ demand for guns in prisons following high profile attacks on guards.
Mark Fairhurst, the national chair of the Prison Officers’ Association, told the Guardian:
We are asking for tasers and the use of non lethal options . If we ever needed firearm support we have an agreement with chief constables to provide mutual aid. The Tories think we need this level of protection but we need to exhaust all other options first including adequate protections for staff and supermax facilities.
Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, said yesterday that some prison officers should have access to firearms to counter “out of control” Islamist gangs and violent prisoners. He also called for high-collar stab vests to be provided to frontline officers right away, citing the threat from inmates after recent attacks on prison officers.
In an article for the Telegraph Jenrick said:
Islamist gangs and violent prisoners in our jails are out of control. It’s a national security emergency, but the government is dithering. If they don’t act soon, there is a very real risk that a prison officer is kidnapped or murdered in the line of duty, or that a terrorist attack is directed from inside prison.
Jenrick said he had commissioned Ian Acheson, a former prison governor, to carry out a rapid review. He said:
We have to stop pussy-footing around Islamist extremists and violent offenders in jails. That means arming specialist prison officer teams with Tasers and stun grenades, as well as giving them access to lethal weapons in exceptional circumstances.
Here are some more pictures from Keir Starmer’s visit to the BAE Systems shipyard at Govan on the River Clyde, Glasgow.
Farage says Reform UK attracting ‘very good talent’, as he announces councillor defections from Tories and Labour
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, has used a press conference in Aberdeen to announce the defection of a Tory councillor to his party. He said:
One of the reasons that we’ve been doing well in Scotland is we’ve been attracting some very, very good, fresh talent. There have been several Conservative councillors that have come to us, and there’ll be a Labour councillor coming to us this afternoon when we get to Hamilton.
But Duncan Massey has been not just a city councillor here in Aberdeen over the course of the last few years, but is somebody who has spent 20 years working in the oil and gas industry, and it’s my happy duty to welcome Duncan as a Reform councillor here in the city of Aberdeen today.
Massey is the 13th defection to Reform in Scotland, Severin Carrell reports.
Farage was speaking at a news conference attended by some business figures from the oil and gas industry. Reform is opposed to net zero measures to reduce carbon emission, and Farage said 2025 would be a record year for fossil fuel consumption. He said:
We can con ourselves as much as we like, there’ll be more coal burnt this year than has ever been burnt in the history of mankind. And the same applies to the use of gas and oil, even the most ardent opponent of net zero has to accept the world will still be using oil and gas.
Reform’s net zero policies have been strongly criticised by experts.
Downing Street normally holds a lobby briefing at 11.30am. But today, because the PM is in Glasgow, it will be at 3.45pm. I’ve amended the agenda for the day at 7.56am to get the correct time in.
Q: How will the strategic defence review help the UK tackle Russian aggression in the far north?
Starmer says the UK is facing threats “of a different order” from those it has faced in the past. He says the defence review will ensure “that our capability meets the threats that we face”.
Q: Could Russia cause an internet blackout and power outages in the UK?
Starmer says the UK has to be prepared for all the threats from Russia. He goes on:
We’re working, as you would expect, with allies, to ensure that we can protect all of our infrastructure and all of our capabilities.
Q: If Labour comes third in Hamilton, behind the SNP and Reform UK, which is what the bookmakers expect, won’t it be the end of Scottish Labour?
Starmer repeats the point about how he thinks only Labour can beat the SNP in the seat.
Q: Why are you not going to Hamilton to campaign? Is it because you are afraid you will lose the byelection?
Starmer says he thinks only Labour can beat the SNP in Hamilton. He says he is focusing on what is best for people in the whole of Scotland.
Q: Voters in Hamilton, where the byelection is taking place, are angry about the government’s cuts. Are you priorities different from those of the Scottish people?
Starmer criticises the SNP for not backing the nuclear deterrent, and he attacks Reform UK for proposing unfunded tax cuts. That is what Liz Truss did when she “blew up the ecconomy”, he says.
Starmer declines to rule out further cuts to aid budget to fund higher defence spending
Q: [From the Guardian’s Kiran Stacey] Will you rule out going back to the aid budget to fund raising the defence budget to 3% of GDP?
Starmer says cutting the aid budget was a difficult decision. He wants to work with other countries to get more money into aid spending. He says the best way to raise money for more public spending is by promoting growth.
Q: [From GB News] The Germans have warned that Russia could invade a Nato ally in four years. Don’t you need to go further and faster on raising defence spending?
Starmer says he is very alert to the continuing threat from Russia. It is already menacing our skies and waters, and threatening cyber attacks. The review will prepare Britain for this. The government is going further and faster, he says.
He says he also expects it to produce a defence dividend (jobs in the defence industry).
Q: Small boat crossings are up 42% from last year. Aren’t you failing to keep Britain safe?
Starmer says no one should be crossing the channel in small boats. He says Britain is cooperating with the French on this, and he says the border authorities are getting new powers through the border security bill.
