John Healey confirms 3% defence target by 2030 but funding plan waits for spending review

The Chancellor, John Healey, has confirmed that the government aims to spend 3% of GDP on defence by 2030, but he has not set out how the increase will be funded. In an interview with BBC One's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, he said the path would be set out in next year's spending review, when the government makes multi-year spending plans.

BBC One reported that the target represents an £11 billion increase in defence spending. The same channel said the government hopes to draw on more private finance and some international borrowing. It also reported new rules requiring overseas companies given large defence contracts to invest the same value back into the UK in jobs, factories or training.

Wes Streeting, the defence secretary, rejected criticism that the government was kicking the can down the road. BBC One reported that Streeting told BBC Breakfast spending was already rising this year and next, and that the figure was 2.3% when Labour came into government and would be 2.7% next year. BBC News gave a slightly different account, putting the current path at about 2.6 and a bit per cent.

Labour MP Tan Dhesi, who chairs the Commons defence committee, said the lack of detail risked leaving the country vulnerable in a major conflict and that defence investment could not be kicked into the long grass. BBC One reported his criticism. BBC News said Streeting was at odds with MPs on the committee and had denied the government was delaying.

BBC News reported that the government had lifted defence spending from about 2.3% of national income when it came to power. It said the budget's defence investment plan took the figure to about 2.6 and a bit per cent, while the Chancellor committed to 3% by 2030 without saying how. Critics said the longer the decisions were delayed, the harder they would be.

BBC One noted that Healey had resigned as Sir Keir Starmer's defence secretary over defence funding before becoming Chancellor. In the BBC One interview, Healey said the budget had fully funded the defence investment plan for the first time. He said £14 billion was being spent this year, more than in the last year of the last Conservative government, and that the National Wealth Fund would direct £5 billion towards defence over four years. He confirmed the spending review would take place next year.

Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the former chief of the defence staff, told BBC One that the promises were welcome but that there was not yet enough cash to keep the country safe. He said the jury was out until percentages and pounds were turned into kit. He said the size and shape of the armed forces in 2030 or 2035 had not been set out, and that money was going into large programmes such as the nuclear deterrent, AUKUS and a sixth-generation fighter, while the rest of defence was getting smaller.