Overview
- Kemi Badenoch stepped up her criticism on Wednesday, calling the missing Defence Investment Plan a “national scandal” and urging the government to publish it next week.
- The plan would set a timetable for buying equipment and munitions under the Strategic Defence Review, but it remains unpublished as ministers reject reports that the Treasury is blocking it.
- Conservatives outlined funding options that include restoring the two‑child benefit cap and shifting £17 billion from green projects into a new Sovereign Defence Fund.
- Defence Minister Luke Pollard said past Tory governments “hollowed out” the armed forces and claimed Keir Starmer is delivering the biggest sustained rise in defence spending since the Cold War.
- Keir Starmer visited a Saudi air base during the US–Iran ceasefire, saying he seeks to shore up the truce and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, while pre‑election purdah could still slow any release of the plan.