Defence spending will rise by £11 billion to 2.6per cent of GDP over the next two years, the Chancellor announced today.
Rachel Reeves said Britain will become a ‘defence industrial superpower’ with the extra spending boosting jobs across the UK.
In the face of ‘a new era’ of threats, chiefly Russia, Ms Reeves said there must be ‘a new era for defence and security’.
But she did not say when the target of spending 3per cent of GDP on defence will be achieved.
She told MPs: ‘That's why we took the decision to prioritise our defence spending by reducing Overseas Development Aid so that defence spending will now rise to 2.6per cent of GDP by April 2027 including the contribution of our intelligence agencies.
