Starmer to take PMQs as he faces backlash over ‘poisoned chalice’ defence investment plan – UK politics live

Starmer to take PMQs as he faces backlash over ‘poisoned chalice’ defence investment plan Good morning. Yesterday Keir Starmer published the defence investment plan (Dip), which was probably the last substantial announcement of his premiership. Today he is facing what will probably be his second last PMQs (he is expected to be at the Nato summit next Wednesday, and he’ll have his swansong on 15 July), and the session is likely to be dominated by complaints about the Dip. Broadly, there are three distinct criticisms. 1) ‘It doesn’t raise defence spending by anything like enough.’ This is what military chiefs (in private) and retired military leaders (on TV) have been saying for ages. Yesterday the Institute for Fiscal Studies in effect agreed. In a briefing, it said the rise in defence spending under Labour had been “substantial”. But the problem is that last year, under pressure from Donald Trump , Keir Starmer and other Nato leaders committed to raising defence spending to 3.5% of GDP by 2035 and, as the IFS explains , despite the increase announced yesterday, there is as yet no credible path to get there. 2) ‘It is not even properly funded.’ As Kiran Stacey and Dan Sabbagh explain in the Guardian’s splash story, the Dip amounts to a £15bn spending increase – but there is as yet no explanation as to where the money will come from to fund almost £5bn of this. …