Chancellor Rachel Reeves is resisting calls for a significant increase in defence spending despite warnings from military figures that Britain faces a growing funding crisis and heightened security risks linked to global instability.
Senior defence sources estimate the Armed Forces face a shortfall of around £28 billion over the next four years, raising concerns about readiness amid ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.
According to reports, defence chiefs are due to meet this week to discuss potential budget pressures, including a possible £3.5 billion reduction in the Ministry of Defence’s allocation for the current financial year.
Military leaders have been instructed to identify further “efficiencies” across programmes, even as Prime Minister Keir Starmer prepares to strengthen the Armed Forces amid escalating geopolitical tensions.
Treasury proposals reportedly include a more limited uplift of around £10 billion for defence, alongside wider fiscal measures, including a targeted energy support package for vulnerable households and the expected abandonment of plans to raise fuel duty in September, a move estimated to cost £2.6 billion, the Independent reported.
Officials said Reeves is seeking to avoid breaching fiscal rules or resorting to broad tax rises to fund higher military expenditure, despite mounting pressure from defence figures and some within her own party.
Former NATO Secretary-General and ex-defence secretary George Robertson has warned that Britain’s security is “in peril,” criticising what he described as “corrosive complacency” in government decision-making.
He has also accused Treasury officials of undermining defence planning, calling the approach “vandalism” in remarks that have intensified the political debate over spending priorities.
Former defence secretary Malcolm Rifkind has also urged a larger settlement, arguing that national defence should be prioritised, even if it requires tax rises or cuts elsewhere in government spending.
The row highlights growing tension between fiscal restraint and rising demands on defence budgets, as ministers attempt to balance domestic economic pressures with an increasingly unstable international security environment.
The former Tory defence secretary Ben Wallace said: “Lord Robertson, like the rest of us, has become increasingly frustrated with a prime minister who talks the talk but doesn’t follow it up with funding and action. The PM needs to show leadership, not spin, on our defence.”
Speaking to the Independent, former foreign secretary Jack Straw under Tony Blair said: “As George points out, there is a great urgency to settle the defence spending programme at a level which meets our needs, now and in the future, and with that make necessary decisions to cut non-essential welfare spending.”
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