Sir Keir Starmer confirmed on Wednesday that he would announce the Defence Investment Plan (DIP) before the Nato summit in Ankara, Turkey, on the 7th and 8th of July. A Downing Street spokesperson said there will be no new “major policies” or spending decisions during the transition. However, they have defended the decision to push the DIP, arguing that while it is a big spending commitment, it is an existing one.   Labour MPs are criticising Starmer for seeing through a decade-defining policy issue rather than leaving it to his likely successor, MP for Makerfield, Andy Burnham. Burnham has said that he wants to give the Ministry of Defence (MoD) more than the £13.5 billion on offer.   It is understood that defence aides travelled to Makerfield during the by-election campaign to bring Burnham and his team up to speed on the state of the UK’s defence. Burnham’s allies have said that, if the row over defence spending has been resolved by the time he takes over, then he will move on. However, his team are reserving the right to reopen DIP if that is not the case. Nevertheless, Burnham will still come under significant pressure from military leaders to increase defence spending in the long term.   Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that the plan would "involve more money, spent more effectively and meet the scale of the challenges we face". This comes after the resignation of Defence Secretary John Healey who said a planned rise to 2.68% fell “well short” of the 3% target he thought was necessary. 

"There will now be a change of prime minister, there will be no change in the urgent need to produce the defence investment plan."

The new Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis said that his "priority is to get the defence investment plan done but not at any cost".  He added: "I have a responsibility to get it right. There will now be a change of prime minister, there will be no change in the urgent need to produce the defence investment plan."  MPs have warned that continued delays to the DIP are undermining the UK's credibility with allies. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has said he expects all members of the alliance to arrive at the summit in Turkey with "clear, concrete and credible plans" on how they will increase their defence spending.  European countries are under pressure to boost their defence budgets following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the second term of Donald Trump, who has warned NATO allies that he would not defend them unless they spent more to defend themselves. Not presenting a defence plan at the NATO summit risks making the UK look uncommitted to its defence targets, souring relations with its European allies. Furthermore, a lack of a defence plan is likely to be received very poorly by President Trump, whose relationship with the UK has been rocky since Starmer said the UK will not support the US in its war against Iran.  Voices from the defence industry are also calling for the DIP to be published as soon as possible.   Andrew Kinniburgh, Director General of Make UK Defence, told Mace: “Delays to the Defence Investment Plan have had a crippling impact on business confidence in the sector and resulted in companies going bust, looking to move abroad, and making redundancies. That means a loss of UK jobs, UK expertise, and UK economic potential.  “It is also exacerbating existing issues in our supply chain as companies struggle with high business costs and energy prices – holding back our entire manufacturing base from delivering the economic growth our country needs.  “It is vital that the DIP is published soon. However, to ensure the UK does not lose out in the global race for private investment in defence as our allies have already rapidly boosted defence spending, we also need a meaningful increase to defence investment and a clear plan to reach our new NATO target of 3.5% by 2035.”  Jarvis has indicated that he has secured around a billion pounds more than his predecessor, John Healey. He has confirmed that he was happy for the final deal to be concluded while Keir Starmer serves out his remaining time as prime minister. He said: “I’ve had 12 days, but I’ve made the most of all of them, and I’m now working to finalise and publish the DIP before I travel to Ankara with the prime minister.” The NATO summit will be one of Starmer’s final international engagements as prime minister.  

"Delaying the plan any further could produce serious diplomatic repercussions."

At this summit, President Trump will be examining the progress NATO allies have made towards meeting the pledge to spend 3.5 per cent of GDP on defence by 2035. Despite the political implications for Starmer, Burnham and the Labour G...