Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the oral statement made by the Chancellor of the Exchequer of 9 March 2026 on Middle East: Economic Update, Official Report, columns 43-45, whether the money spent by his Department through the special reserve allocation will be included in his Department's (a) NATO declared spend and (b) budget.

The special reserve is a ring-fenced allocation within the Ministry of Defence budget. As he may recall from his time as a Defence Minister, operational spend has routinely counted towards the UK's NATO qualifying defence spend.