Kemi Badenoch pledges £10bn a year to boost defence spending by 2030 – with welfare cuts planned

KEMI Badenoch has pledged a £10billion a year boost to defence spending by 2030 — via huge welfare cuts. The Tory leader’s savings would include £4billion from housing benefit reforms and £3billion by reimposing the two-child benefit cap. Kemi Badenoch has pledged a £10billion a year boost to defence spending by 2030 Credit: Getty The Tory leader says the first duty of every government is defence Credit: Getty If she wins office, she would also scrap the Chagos Islands deal. Ms Badenoch has heaped pressure on PM Andy Burnham and his Chancellor John Healey to urgently spell out plans to hit three per cent of GDP on defence by 2030. Sign up for the Politics newsletter Thank you! She said: “The first duty of every government is defence — and the Conservatives will always put our defence first. “That’s why we are setting out our plans to reach three per cent on defence spending by the end of this parliament. “John Healey resigned from Keir Starmer’s government saying Labour weren’t keeping our country safe. “Now he is Chancellor he should adopt our plans and make sure our armed forces have the funding they need.” At Mr Burnham’s first Prime Minister’s Questions in the job, Labour MP Tan Dhesi, who chairs the Defence select committee, told the PM “vibes alone are not going to be enough”. He added that rather than “kicking the can down the road” the PM should commit to three per cent by 2030. Most read in The Sun She has also pledged to scrap the Chagos Islands deal if she wins office Credit: AP The Tory leader’s savings would include £4billion from housing benefit reforms Credit: Getty Mr Burnham replied he had “made that commitment very clear”. But Government sources have pointed to the Chancellor saying this week that the target date would be set out at the spending review in the spring. Mr Healey quit as Defence Secretary in June during Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership over the Armed Forces spending plan. Lord Dannatt, the former head of the British Army, told Times Radio last night: “My heart bleeds for John Healey. “He resigned over Keir Starmer’s unwillingness and Rachel Reeves’ inability to fund defence. “He now realises the wider financial issues that the Government has got.” Comment now