The UK’s armed forces will need to “dial back” training and operational activity unless they receive more money than is currently proposed, the chief of the defence staff has warned.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton told the Lords International Relations and Defence Committee that the government’s Defence Investment Plan (DIP) did not include sufficient short-term resource funding to sustain day-to-day activity. He singled out the resource departmental expenditure limit (resource DEL) as the element that funds operations, exercises and training.
“The thing that I’m most concerned about is the level of day-to-day activity funding, the resource departmental expenditure limit, because that funds operational activity and drives exercises and training,” he said. “We will have to dial back our activities and our exercise and operational activity if the level of resource funding that’s available to us does not increase. Now, that’s still to be debated and decided.”
Sir Richard warned that without changes to the settlement the pressure would fall on the activities that keep personnel ready with the equipment they have today.
The intervention comes after former defence secretary John Healey resigned last week, arguing the proposed funding settlement “would reduce the readiness of our Forces and increase the risk to personnel on operations.” In his Commons resignation statement, Healey said his decision “was about our country, not career.”
Healey criticised the DIP as falling short of what is required, noting the plan envisages only a 0.08% rise in defence spending from next year to 2030, includes no date for reaching 3% of GDP, and lays out no path to the government’s longer-term 3.5% target. He said the UK should be aiming to spend 3% of GDP on defence by 2030 and warned that by then “well over half of Nato members will be spending 3% or more.” He also said the plan gave insufficient attention to drone warfare and remained focused on traditional hardware.
The DIP has been delayed following Healey’s resignation while new defence secretary Dan Jarvis reviews how the money will be spent. Downing Street has not indicated that additional funds will be provided beyond the current proposals.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer, speaking at the G7 summit in Evian, said the government was increasing defence spending from 2.3% of GDP to 2.6% and that the DIP would provide “capability for the future.” He added that money had already been reallocated from other departments to defence and that discussions with the new defence secretary about priorities are ongoing.
Sir Richard said the new secretary of state needed time to complete the review, but reiterated the immediate risk: without increased resource funding, training, exercises and operational commitments will have to be reduced.
