Sir Keir Starmer has been warned that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) could face a £28 billion funding shortfall in the next four years, according to reports.
The UK’s top military chief, Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, reportedly met with the Prime Minister before Christmas and said that an MoD assessment made last year showed a £28 billion shortfall between now and 2030, The Times reports.
The Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Defence Secretary John Heeley were also at the meeting, it reports.
The news could influence the defence investment plan (Dip), which has been delayed after first being expected in the autumn and will set out how the strategic defence review is to be delivered.
A Government source said the UK is “on track” to fulfil the commitments outlined in the review.
Sir Richard took over as Chief of the Defence Staff in September and is responsible for the delivery of the strategic defence review published in June, as the UK has pledged to boost defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2027.
The review also set out a goal to raise spending to three per cent in the next Parliament “when fiscal and economic conditions allow”.
It comes after Britain and France this week signed a historic agreement committing to boots on the ground in Ukraine as soon as any ceasefire with Russia comes into place.
The document, signed at a summit in Paris by French president Emmanuel Macron, Sir Keir and Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky, was hailed as “a significant step forward” in bringing about the coalition of the willing to guarantee peace in the war-torn country.
Additionally, UK bases and military personnel supported a US operation to seize an oil tanker in the Atlantic on Wednesday, said to be part of a “shadow fleet” seeking to evade sanctions on Iranian oil.
Sir Keir spoke to US President Donald Trump for the second time in as many days on Thursday as the two discussed the threat that an “increasingly aggressive” Russia poses in the “High North”.
An MOD spokesperson told The Independent: “The UK defence budget is rising to record levels as this government delivers the biggest boost to defence spending since the Cold War, totalling £270bn this parliament alone.
“Demands on defence are rising, with growing Russian aggression, increasing operational requirements and preparations for a Ukraine deployment.
“We are working flat out on the Defence Investment Plan, which will fix the outdated, overcommitted, and underfunded defence programme we inherited.”
