Sir Keir Starmer has announced an extra £15bn for defence over the next four years, but warned it would mean some road and energy projects will now be scrapped.
The UK prime minister said on Tuesday that the long-awaited defence investment plan (DIP) would reverse the “corrosive hollowing out” of the armed forces and transform a military that has been “underfunded and unsuited to the threats we face”.
He called the blueprint “a platform on which I know my successor will build”. It has been signed off by Andy Burnham, to whom Starmer is expected to hand over power as soon as July 20.
9 Comments
Zombie@feddit.uk · 10 pts · 48d
Nothing to do with this...
https://novaramedia.com/2026/06/29/keir-starmer-wants-to-be-nato-chief-after-he-leaves-no-10/
geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml · 4 pts · 48d
Doubt they'd fire their current leader. Rutte has been an excellent servant for the US.
9point6@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 48d
(Aside, I'm glad we've got Novara media)
florge@feddit.uk · 7 pts · 48d
What good is defending a country with shit infrastructure?
Codpiece@feddit.uk · 7 pts · 48d
It’s the backup plan is case the enemy gets through our first line defences. They won’t be going anywhere.
tenebrisnox@feddit.uk · 1 pts · 47d
It's for defensing the homes and assets of the rich. Lord Fitzwankle of ChorleyFlockbum is terrified that the Chinese have designs on his Olympic-sized swimming pool next to the maze in his estate's grounds. Of course, Lord Fitzwankle wants his security paid for out of general taxation by cutting spending on state education, NHS and welfare.
moderatecentrist@feddit.uk · -1 pts · 48d
I think it's right for the UK and Europe in general to invest in defence. Europe is on its own; nobody else will defend the continent. If Europe can't defend itself then it probably won't be long until the US or Russia or China decides they'd like a piece of European land for themselves (well Russia is already trying to take European land of course).
tenebrisnox@feddit.uk · 1 pts · 47d
UK is already the sixth biggest spender on defence without this latest "upgrade". Where is all the money going if - supposedly - we don't have a large standing army, much of the hardware doesn't work and it takes weeks for a military vessel to set sail? Lots of this is propaganda, of course. Maybe not upgrading all the nukes at a cost of £63 billion might shift some of the money? Maybe asking WHO is being defended would be a good starting point? (And it aint the ordinary UK citizen.)
Squizzy@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 47d
The US and Russia are actively trying to take parts of Europe as we speak.
Superpowers in decline.