Wes Streeting has acknowledged that Labour is unable to pledge to a key defence spending target by 2030, saying the party does not yet know how it would be paid for.
The Defence Secretary on Thursday repeatedly declined to guarantee that the Government would raise Armed Forces spending to 3 per cent of GDP before the end of this parliament, refusing to give the assurance ten times.
His comments followed Andy Burnham’s own refusal on Wednesday to say whether he would hit the same target by the end of the decade.
That hesitation came despite Mr Burnham’s insistence that, as Prime Minister, he would place the country’s defences at the top of his priorities.
On his first day in the defence brief, Mr Streeting also declared that there could be “no social justice without national security”.
Expectations that defence would be given greater prominence were strengthened by the Prime Minister’s decision to appoint John Healey as Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Mr Healey moved to the Treasury only weeks after stepping down as defence secretary. In his resignation speech, he argued that Britain should set a “headmark date” of reaching 3 per cent of GDP on defence by 2030.
Mr Streeting welcomed Mr Healey’s return to government, saying the Armed Forces now had a “firm friend” inside the Treasury.
Show and tell: Andy Burnham and Wes Streeting meeting apprentices yesterday at the Submarines Academy for Skills and Knowledge in Barrow
But since then the Chancellor’s deafening silence and Mr Burnham and Mr Streeting’s refusals to set targets for defence spending increases have dampened spirits.
Yesterday Mr Streeting told the BBC’s Today programme: ‘The Prime Minister has said very clearly that the Defence Investment Plan must be fully funded.
‘People will know how strongly the Chancellor feels about that. [But] those are conversations for future spending reviews.’
Speaking to Sky News, he added: ‘Let’s say, for argument’s sake, I just said ‘Yes, we will by 2030 meet 3 per cent’. The inevitable next question is how will you fund it?
‘That is the trap I’ve seen so many previous, particularly Conservative, governments fall into – setting out what they would spend or the taxes they would cut, without at the same time saying how they would pay for it.
‘I’m sorry but that path leads to uncertainty, a loss of market confidence, a rise in borrowing costs, so we end up paying a heavy price if you don’t have that fiscal discipline of spelling out at the same time, not just what you will spend, or the taxes you would cut, but also how you would pay for it.’
Labour peer Admiral Lord West criticised the party’s leadership for pledging to prioritise the country’s security over domestic issues when it has failed to provide spending commitments.
He told the Daily Mail: ‘There are a lot of smoke and mirrors being deployed on the defence funding front. Ensuring 3 per cent by 2030 would mean something, so too meeting the spending requirements of the ‘RDEL’ budget [the everyday costs of operations and exercises].’
Chancellor John Healey (right) quit as Sir Keir Starmer’s Defence Secretary over a row about funding ahead of the unveiling of the Defence Investment Plan
The former head of the Royal Navy also attacked the Government over its announcement that it is to provide £8.4billion to secure the UK’s nuclear deterrent.
He added: ‘That was a non-event, because the nuclear deterrent funding was always secure.’
Tory defence spokesman James Cartlidge criticised Labour’s stance, saying: ‘You would have thought Healey would have been straight out of the blocks with a plan to achieve 3 per cent.
‘Instead Andy Burnham and Wes Streeting have refused to set out a position on 3 per cent. The Defence Investment Plan only gets us to 2.68 per cent by 2030 – the same amount Healey resigned over.’
Business leaders also expressed frustration, with BAE Systems chief executive Charles Woodburn saying ‘a clear pathway’ for the Nato spending obligation of 3.5 per cent by 2035 was needed. To date, no timetable has been set.
Mr Burnham yesterday visited a submarine factory in Barrow- in-Furness to mark the Government’s commitment to building new submarines which will operate the UK’s nuclear deterrent.
The first Dreadnought-class vessel, named HMS Dreadnought, will be one of four submarines made ready to replace the current Vanguard-class ‘bomber’ subs.
The funding is billed as the fourth phase of a programme to replace Vanguard, which has been operating since the 1990s, and is reportedly coming under increasing strain. HMS Dreadnought is expected to enter service by the mid-2030s, with Vanguard being retired at the same time.
The PM said: ‘Keeping this country safe is the first responsibility of any Government. But security is not only about what we build, it is about who builds it, and who benefits from it. Submarines produced in Barrow will protect Britain for decades to come, and the 47,000 jobs and apprenticeships will change lives in this town and dozens of places like it.
Last night, General Sir Richard Barrons accused the Prime Minister of using an announcement on new submarines as a ‘smokescreen’ for ‘dodging’ defence spending problems.
Sir Richard, one of the authors of the strategic defence review, warned that spending would have to increase quickly to protect against the Russian threat.
He told The Times: ‘Talking about current, funded nuclear programmes cannot be a smokescreen for dodging the issue of the defence spending needed in time for the UK, in Nato, to credibly deter Russia by 2030 not 2035.
‘This is a problem that will not go away just by ignoring it and the clock is ticking ever louder.’
Later Mr Burnham travelled south to vote in the Manchester mayoral election.
