Starmer blasted over 'disingenuous' defence plan that won't fool Donald Trump

The Government’s pledge to increase defence spending to 5% of GDP by 2035 has been blasted as “disingenuous” by a Conservative MP and former soldier. Lincoln Jopp MC, the Conservative MP for Spelthorne and one of just two members of Parliament to have earned the Military Cross, the British gallantry award for exemplary courage during active operations against the enemy, believes that Labour’s commitment to significantly increase the amount spent on the armed forces is “smoke and mirrors.”

In June, NATO allies agreed at the behest of Donald Trump to spend 5% of GDP on defence, with 1.5% allocated to "defence-related" projects. However, the Government has been accused of planning to include money spent on existing projects with little to no military value to inflate the amount invested in defence, something that Jopp believes fails to prepare the nation to deter the aggression of its adversaries. He said: “I think it is disingenuous to include things that are not new money and projects that don’t directly contribute to the defence of the nation.”

It has been reported that Project Gigabit, a communications infrastructure project launched four years ago at a cost of £5 billion aiming to provide “lightning-fast” broadband to rural areas of the UK, will be included in the 5% figure.

According to Bloomberg the money spent on the project could be counted as “defence related” spending as could £1 billion spent to improve weak bridges and build the Lower Thames Crossing tunnel.

Former Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has warned the Government that any attempt to inflate investment in defence will fail to hoodwink Washington.

He previously told The Times: “When I was at the MoD, the Treasury even tried to include spending on asylum seekers against my budget.

“Nearly all these tricks are actually against the rules set out by NATO, and none of these funding streams fool the Americans, nor deter an enemy.”

After winning the General Election last year, Keir Starmer vowed to increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP “when economic conditions allow”.

The election of Donald Trump, combined with an escalation in global tensions, saw the Government agree to raise defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027, paid for by a reduction in the amount spent on foreign aid.

They additionally vowed to raise that further to 3% in the next parliament, a figure deemed as vital by the authors of the strategic defence review (SDR) to the nation’s ability to meet its recommendations.

The Conservative party had pledged to raise defence spending in this parliament if they won the General Election, and Jopp remains unconvinced that the Government is committed to effectively rearming the armed forces, given the prolonged time taken to commit to raising the defence budget.

He added: “I am very sceptical about this 1.5%. It seems convenient for the Prime Minister to create it just before the NATO summit when everyone in Whitehall knew that Donald Trump would insist upon it.

“They knew that they would have to increase defence spending, but they dragged their heels at every turn. I fear that this 5% figure is 50% smoke and 50% mirrors.

“I do not believe that large parts of the Cabinet fully grasp the threats facing us and the need to rearm quickly and effectively.”

Figures within the Labour party have also expressed frustration with the time it has taken for the government to commit to raising defence spending, despite the war in Ukraine approaching its fourth anniversary and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East clearly demonstrating the threat.

One Labour MP with military experience said on the condition of anonymity: “John Healey absolutely gets it and I think many people in No 10 do also, although not everybody.

“But in the Cabinet, opinion is split. Money is tight and something has to give, be it education, healthcare, welfare etc. There are definitely competing interests, and some don’t understand the severity of the threat facing the country and Europe more broadly.”

The Ministry of Defence has denied that existing projects will be included in the 1.5% defence spending, claiming that discussions as to what will count have yet to be decided.

A Government spokesperson said: “We have made a historic commitment to spend 5% of GDP on national security, underlining our focus on keeping the country safe and honouring our position as a leader in NATO.

“We have full confidence that we will meet the 1.5% target on resilience and security during this period thanks to this Government’s significant investment in those areas, as set out in the Spending Review.”