Britain's outgoing Prime Minister Keir Starmer unveiled on Tuesday his long-delayed Defence Investment Plan, promising an increase of 15 billion pounds ($19.8 billion) in funding to better equip the country to fight the wars of the future in a blueprint he described as his legacy.
In what is most likely his last major policy announcement, Starmer said the plan had been sharpened and went further than a previous document that prompted his ally, John Healey, to resign as defense minister earlier this month, accusing him of failing to secure enough money to keep the country safe.
Starmer will take his plan – which foresees spending of nearly 80 billion pounds a year by 2029 – to Ankara for a NATO meeting on July 7 to 8, where he will want to signal that Britain was on the path to meet its commitment to reach defense spending of 3.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2035.
But with his expected successor, Andy Burnham, due to take power as soon as July 20, he acknowledged that new governments could "build" on his blueprint.
Some critics said the plan, delayed for more than nine months, was too little, too late.
