L

Lord Coaker (Lab)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 10 September 2026

Debate

Defence Spending

Contribution

I accept the points that my noble friend has made. As the Defence Minister, I always lay out what the Government are trying to do to deal with the situation as it currently exists. One or two years on from the last spending review, the Government took really difficult decisions, within a spending review cycle, to increase the defence budget by £15 billion. Some of that has led to very difficult decisions. I will give him one example relevant to anybody who lives in and around the East Midlands, but I could cite examples from other areas. As a result of those decisions, the A38 and A46 road projects, which were about to start, were delayed to fund defence. Those are some of the tough decisions that the Government have taken, and there are other examples from across the UK about how we are seeking to deal with this. At the next spending review, watch how the Government will set out a path to 3.5% by 2035.

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