Penny Mordaunt accuses Labour of ‘burying its head in the sand’ over defence spending

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Penny Mordaunt has accused the government of burying its head in the sand on defence, amid reports Labour is planning on cuts in the forthcoming budget.

Writing in The Independent, the former Tory leadership hopeful warned that Labour’s first Budget, which will be delivered on 30 October, “is the only opportunity they have” to demonstrate that the UK is serious about “playing their part in defending our collective interests”.

Ms Mordaunt warned that it is a “diplomatic signal as well as a fiscal event”, saying any decision not to invest enough in defence could indicate that the UK is “not a reliable partner” and lead to “grave consequences” for the nation.

Amid growing global instability, with wars raging in both the Middle East and Ukraine, Ms Mordaunt said that “what the UK chooses has never mattered more”.

“If we do not commit to do all that is required to protect our national interests, then we can hardly be surprised when allies don’t either,” she said.

Civil servants have reportedly been told that the budgets for science and technology, as well as research and development, could face cuts amounting to hundreds of millions of pounds.

“If this is confirmed in the Autumn Budget, it will be six days prior to the US elections,” Ms Mordaunt said. We’ve chosen to bury our heads in the sand. US defence firms are already experiencing demand not seen since the height of the Cold War. Analysts are calling for yet more expenditure on top of that.

“The brutal fact is that defence spending is a zero-sum game. The less we spend the more we have to depend on others. On either presidential election outcome, our ability to defend our interests is compromised.”

She added: “Labour’s first Budget this autumn is the only opportunity they have to show their most important ally they are serious about playing their part in defending our collective interests.

“The new year will bring a new president and the start of their budget cycle. Whoever it is, how can they argue for the levels of investment required when their key partners fail to match current spending levels?”

According to The Daily Telegraph, the Treasury is considering cuts to the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) funding for modernising the armed forces by up to 20 per cent.

But the MoD, who disputed the claims, said the government plans to “secure Britain’s defences for the future, while increasing defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP as soon as possible.”

The department’s budget had already been under significant pressure under the last Conservative government because of soaring equipment costs, which came as a result of rising inflation.

While Labour has said it is committed to spending 2.5 per cent of GDP on defence, they have not set a target for when this goal will be achieved.

A Labour source told The Independent: “This new government will always do what’s required to protect our country.

“It’s astonishing that former Conservative ministers are attempting to shift the blame onto a new government for the mess they created.

“Tory ministers failed to get a grip of defence budgets. They’ve made the problems we face much worse by failing to take tough decisions, making promises they couldn’t fund and wasting billions of taxpayers’ money on bad MoD procurement.

“Our new government will deal with this dire inheritance and put forward a credible plan to hit 2.5 per cent to ensure Britain is secure at home and strong abroad.”