Overview
- The government has committed to publish the long‑delayed Defence Investment Plan before the NATO leaders’ summit in Ankara on July 7 and says it will set out future spending priorities.
- Defence ministers John Healey and Al Carns resigned earlier this month, saying the plan’s roughly £13.5bn top‑up falls far short of officials’ estimated need of about £28bn and cannot close capability gaps.
- Senior UK military figures including the chief of the defence staff have warned forces must be able to ‘deter, fight and win’ against peer threats such as Russia and that current funding risks shortfalls in munitions, ships and attritable systems.
- Allied officials and former NATO commanders have publicly pressed Britain to strengthen its funding path, arguing that persistent underinvestment would reduce the UK’s influence in NATO and could cost it senior alliance roles.
- NATO has asked members to show a credible path to spend 3.5% of GDP on core defence by 2035 and current UK projections would reach roughly 2.68% by 2030, a shortfall that analysts say raises costs for suppliers, delays procurement and weakens long‑term readiness.