- Keir Starmer unveiled a new defence investment plan, emphasising that global conflicts and foreign state actions, such as targeting the UK and Russian ships threatening underwater cables, demonstrate that threats are not 'remote'.
- The plan aims to reverse the 'corrosive hollowing out' of the armed forces and transform a previously underfunded defence programme, building on last year's strategic defence review and sharpened in collaboration with key government figures.
- Annual defence spending is set to increase significantly from £54 billion to almost £80 billion by 2029, representing a substantial uplift in the UK's defence budget.
- Funding for this increased investment will come from reallocating capital budgets across government departments, specifically by cancelling some 'not immediately vital' road and energy projects, rather than through defence bonds or cuts to day-to-day public services.
- The plan includes a commitment to invest over £5 billion in drones and autonomous weapons, including 'low-cost, one-way attack drones', learning lessons from the conflict in Ukraine, alongside reforms within the Ministry of Defence to improve efficiency and reduce non-military staff.
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