Bridget Phililpson blows hole in Sir Keir Starmer's talk on defence

Sir Keir Starmer will only hike defence spending by 0.2 per cent of GDP, a Cabinet minister indicated on Sunday.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said Labour’s manifesto pledge of hiking it to 2.5 per cent was an ‘ambitious’ target.

She suggested it will not be increased higher despite growing calls to do so.

Britain currently spends 2.3 per cent of GDP on defence, equivalent to £54billion. It would cost around an extra £6billion or so a year by 2030 to hike it to 2.5 per cent.

Ms Phillipson’s comments meant a speech by Sir Keir Starmer on Sunday in which he insisted that ‘peace only comes through strength’ fell flat.