Treasury chief secretary says delayed defence spending plan will be published ‘as soon as possible’
James Murray, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, has denied that ministers are complacent about defence and said the government’s delayed investment plan will be published “as soon as possible”.
He told GB News: “Look, I’ve got a lot of respect for Lord Robertson, but I just fundamentally disagree with him on this. And it’s not just me. The First Sea Lord was speaking to MPs earlier this week and said that there’s no complacency at all in any of the dealings that he’s had within government.
“But I would also say, look at the decisions that we’ve taken. Look at the decisions that the Chancellor and the Prime Minister have taken to increase investment in defence to the highest sustained level since the Cold War.
“We came into office with a commitment in our manifesto about setting out a pathway towards spending 2.5% of GDP on defence over this parliament. We’re going to hit 2.6% by April next year because of decisions that the Chancellor and the rest of the government have taken already.
“It’s really important to underline the investment that’s going in to our military and to defence. We have to get it right, though, because it’s not just a question of how much you spend. It’s also how you spend it, and that’s why the defence investment plan, which is a 10-year strategy to transform our armed forces, is so important to get right.”
Asked when the plan will be published, he said: “That’s going to come out as soon as possible.
“We need to make sure the defence investment plan recognises those new threats, and what we’re learning from what’s happening in Ukraine, what’s happening in the Middle East, we need to make sure it’s fit for purpose and is pointing itself toward the threats that we face in the future.
“But I just want to repeat the point I made, because it is an important one, which is that whilst we are doing this work to get the defence investment plan right, we are not sat on our hands.
“We are already investing in huge, important capabilities for our military. I mentioned helicopters, submarines, nuclear reactors and so on. All of that is really important to protect our nation.”
On the Chancellor’s criticism of President Trump, he said: “What the Chancellor was reflecting is her views, which are shared by many of us and by many people across the country, which was that going into that war without an exit plan and without a clear strategy about what the the desired outcome was, is not something that we wanted to be involved with.
“That’s why the Prime Minister said no to getting involved with the strikes on Iran. That was an important decision he made, which I think reflects the opinions of people across the country.
“When the Chancellor talks about being very frustrated and angry about what’s happened, at the front of her mind is what’s happening to people in the UK, because people are concerned about the impact this war is going to have on us.
“It’s not a war of our choosing, but it is going to have an impact on us here, and our job as a government is to protect people as that’s coming our way.”
