The government has been accused of “spin and tinkering” over an announcement about an increase in defence spending which falls far short of what is needed, Sky News understands.
An entire fleet of military helicopters – the Royal Air Force’s Puma aircraft – was retired this week as part of a cost-saving plan to scrap older kit that was announced in November.
The sight of old but still airworthy helicopters being taken out of service before a replacement is ready – creating a capability gap – contrasts with statements by Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, and John Healey, the defence secretary, about boosting the defence budget.
Sir Ben Wallace, the longest-serving Conservative defence secretary, said he had expected better given the urgent need to rearm at a time of heightened threats and following Donald Trump’s warnings to Europe to stop relying on the United States to bankroll its security.
“We are at the dawn of a new era of insecurity across the world,” Sir Ben said.
“The US has warned us for a decade about not taking them for granted, and we all did nothing. In Germany, Poland, and France the penny has dropped and they have embraced a necessary culture change and re-prioritisation of government spend.
“In the UK, the government still thinks it is about spin and tinkering. It fools no one, and we risk losing our credibility and leadership on defence amongst allies.”
In her spring statement on Wednesday, the chancellor announced an extra £2.2bn for defence this coming financial year.
Ms Reeves told MPs it was a further “down payment” on a promise by the prime minister to lift expenditure on defence to 2.5% of GDP from April 2027. Defence spending is currently around 2.3% of gross national income. The new money will help inch it up to 2.36%.
The chancellor, defence secretary and prime minister have repeatedly phrased their plan to inject cash into the armed forces over this parliament as “the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War”.
But defence insiders say, while any new money is welcome, this claim is more spin than substance because the defence budget largely suffered repeated cuts since the Soviet Union collapsed.
Also, focusing on a slogan does not answer the question of whether an extra £2bn over the next 12 months is enough to transform the British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force at the speed that is necessary, they said.
Asked whether it was sufficient, multiple military sources and a defence industry source collectively said “no”.
“This is just another sticking plaster that overlooks decades of underinvestment and chronic financial mismanagement of our armed forces,” the defence industry source said.
“Increasing spending or a focus on ‘novel technologies’ ignores the fact that we have let a broken system flourish.
“Time and time again, we see celebration over procuring outdated solutions while their manufacturers get away with significant delays or overspends with seemingly few repercussions.
“While we continue to spin and fight over tiny percentages of spending, we are allowing our armed forces to get hollowed out in front of us, hoping that government soundbites will provide the deterrence that our current equipment can’t.”
A military source said the additional £2.2bn for the year to March 2026 was a step in the right direction, but said it would merely keep defence on “life support”.
The situation only starts to improve marginally in two years’ time when the defence budget is finally forecast to hit 2.5% of GDP, the source said.
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This is despite the UK being a leading member of the “coalition of the willing”, with Sir Keir Starmer pledging to deploy forces to secure any ceasefire deal in Ukraine – a move that would put huge additional strain on his already stretched armed forces.
While the UK talks about 2.5% for the defence budget, Mark Rutte, the secretary general of NATO, says allies must spend more than 3%, while Mr Trump wants them to aim for 5%.
In 2020, Boris Johnson, as the prime minister, said a plan to increase the defence budget by £16bn over four years, on top of a commitment to lift defence spending by 0.5% above inflation for each year of the parliament – so what was described at the time as an additional £24bn in total – was the biggest boost to defence expenditure since the Cold War.
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Sir Keir has added the word “sustained” when describing the size of his defence spending boost – though that will depend upon the accuracy of forecasts that GDP will expand at the rate predicted in the coming years.
Sir Ben said: “The UK is facing some of the highest threats in a generation, yet John Healey thinks spin is the appropriate response. He fools no one – not the men and women of the armed forces and not our enemies. I had expected better of him.”
