Sir Keir Starmer in the House of Commons (Image: PA)
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer came under fire from a Labour MP after announcing cuts to the UK's aid budget to pay for increased defence spending.
Sir Keir Starmer announced the increase in defence spending from its current 2.3% to 2.5% in response to “tyrant” Russian leader Vladimir Putin and amid uncertainty over the US’s commitment to European security. However it comes at the expense of the aid budget, which is being slashed.
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And left-wingLabour MP Diane Abbott told the House of Commons: "The whole country stands behind the people of Ukraine but there is also a view that taking money from aid and development to spend on armaments and tanks makes people less safe... because the desperation and the poverty that so often leads to warfare is what aid and development money is supposed to help."
Sior Keir insisted overseas aid was "important "and the cut was "not a decision I wanted to take" - but he insisted he had put the defence of the UK "uppermost".
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Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch insisted Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer explain exactly how much he is increasing defence spending - and stop playing "silly games".
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At a Downing Street press conference, Sir Keir said the increase amounted to Labour spending ￡13.4 billion extra each year on the armed forces. But Defence Secretary John Healey has now confirmed that the increase will be just ￡6 billion in real terms.
Challenging Sir Keir in questions to the Prime Minister in the Commons, Ms Badenoch said: "That wasn't very clear"
She said the Institute for Fiscal Studies has accused the Government of playing "silly games" with numbers.
Mrs Badenoch said: "We need clarity and transparency over the money"
Highlighting the Government's plan to send British troops to Ukraine as a peacekeeping force, she said: "We haven't seen the detail of any proposals."
But Sir Keir mocked her questions, telling Parliament: "She didn't feature in my thinking at all."
And he said: "She has appointed herself saviour of western civilisation."
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However Sir Keir did suggest that the extra funding for defence would not include money going to lease back a defence base in the Chagos Islands when these are handed over to Mauritius.
Earlier, the Defence Secretary suggested the real-terms increase in defence spending year on year will be only around half the ￡13.4 billion figure cited by the Prime Minister.
John Healey said in real terms the figure “would be something over ￡6 billion” and claimed the “definition of defence numbers can be done in different ways”.
Ministers have been accused of playing “silly games with numbers” over their assertion on Tuesday that the increase in defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 would mean ￡13.4 billion more would be spent on defence every year.
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Sir Keir Starmer announced the increase in defence spending from its current 2.3% to 2.5% in response to “tyrant” Russian leader Vladimir Putin and amid uncertainty over the US’s commitment to European security. However it comes at the expense of the aid budget, which is being slashed.
“Let me spell it out, that means spending ￡13.4 billion more on defence every year from 2027,” Sir Keir told the Commons.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast on Wednesday, Mr Healey was asked about criticism of the figures and said “the definition of defence numbers can be done in different ways”.
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