Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said he would not have said yes to the new role without an assurance that enough cash was coming, as pressure mounts to say when defence spending will reach 3% of the national income
Wes Streeting has said he would not have accepted the Defence Secretary job if Andy Burnham had not convinced him that investment was coming.
Mr Streeting said it is an advantage having his predecessor, John Healey, now heading the Treasury. Mr Healey needs to carve out billions of pounds in his first Budget to pay for the government’s defence plans.
Mr Streeting told Sky News: “If I didn’t have confidence that this Prime Minister and this Chancellor would be investing in our defence sufficiently to protect our country, to protect our allies, and to meet our international commitments, then no, I wouldn’t have taken the job.
“But of the many things that I discussed with the Prime Minister before he took office and before I decided to support him to be leader of the Labour Party, I was absolutely assured of his commitment to our defense and security.”
He went on: “Next week, what you will see is a Prime Minister that runs towards big and difficult issues rather than runs away from them.”
One of the biggest issues to contend with will be defence spending. New Treasury chief Mr Healey dramatically quit Keir Starmer’s government in June, accusing Mr Starmer and previous Chancellor Rachel Reeves of not putting aside enough cash to defend the nation.
The government is under pressure to ramp up spending on defence to 3% of national income, but has yet to set out a timetable to do so.
Mr Healey told The Sun that defence spending would be his first priority. He said: “I have argued for many years – and Andy Burnham has said the same – that the first duty of any government is to keep the country safe and protect our citizens.
“That is fundamental to the way that I work in government and the decisions I take.” At the moment the UK’s defence budget is expected to hit 2.7% of gross national product (GDP) by 2029.
But when he resigned as Defence Secretary on June 11, Mr Healey voiced his frustration that no timetable had been set out to reach 3%. Keir Starmer previously told Nato the figure would rise still further, to 3.5%, by 2035.
His successor has yet to set out his defence spending plans. But last week his official spokesman told reporters: “We will honour our commitments on defence to our international partners, and as I say, we’ll set out more on defence in due course.
“He told the Nato secretary-general (Mark Rutte) the appointment of John Healey as chancellor is a signal of his intent.”
In his first Budget, Mr Healey will need to find an extra £4.7billion to pay for the government’s Defence Investment Plan (DIP), which was published on June 30. Documents released at the time said the sum would need to be set out in the Budget, meaning the Chancellor will be scrambling over the summer to find savings or raise taxes.