Defence Spending

Baroness Goldie Excerpts

Thursday 10th September 2026 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Goldie]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of their progress towards spending three per cent of GDP on defence by 2030.

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Coaker) (Lab)]

My Lords, the defence investment plan published in the summer increased defence spending by £15 billion over what was agreed at last year’s spending review. This means that MoD spending over the next four years will total almost £300 billion. Under current plans, defence spending will reach 2.7% of GDP from 2027. By the end of the decade, the MoD budget will be 27% higher in real terms than in 2023-24. The Chancellor has said that at the spending review the Government will set out a clear path towards the NATO commitment to reach 3.5% of GDP on core defence spending by 2035. This will include a target date for increasing defence spending to 3% of GDP.

[Baroness Goldie (Con)]

My Lords, in July, ahead of visiting the Trident build at Barrow-in-Furness, the Prime Minister said:

“Keeping this country safe is the first responsibility of any government”.


Yesterday, at Prime Minister’s Questions, he said

“national security … cannot come at the expense of social security”.—[Official Report, Commons, 9/9/26; col. 1036.]

The Benches behind me, particularly at this critical time, are resolute that the first responsibility of any Government is keeping this country safe. Can the Minister explain why the Prime Minister has reneged on his priority?

[Lord Coaker (Lab)]

Let me first say something that I have always said from the Dispatch Box: I do not believe that there is anybody in this House or the other place who does not want to keep this country safe—I just do not believe that. On the noble Baroness’s question, presumably about cutting welfare spending in order to put it into defence, this Government’s position is very clear. Of course we all want to reduce the welfare bill, but we will do it in a planned, methodical way that gets people into work, and we will act on what the Timms review and the Milburn review say. What I do not think is helpful for a debate on spending is to pitch welfare against defence spending; that is a really unfortunate way to frame the debate. Of course we want to reduce the welfare bill and to spend more on defence, and this Government will do both.