UK would pay heavy price for promising 3% defence goal without plan – Streeting

Committing to spend 3% of GDP on defence by 2030 without a funding plan could lead to Britain “paying a heavy price”, Wes Streeting has warned, as his boss prepares to set out new investment for nuclear submarines.The Defence Secretary said he was committed to the UK’s overall goal and spending pledges made to Nato, but he did not want to pre-empt future spending details.Prime Minister Andy Burnham refused on Wednesday to commit to the same 3% target by 2030, after a row about raising defence spending which engulfed Sir Keir Starmer’s last weeks as premier.Mr Burnham on Thursday is expected to set out details of an already agreed £8.4 billion investment in the latest generation of nuclear-armed submarines, the Dreadnought Class, as he visits Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria.As he toured broadcast studios on Thursday, Mr Streeting faced scrutiny over Britain’s defence spending commitments ahead of the Prime Minister’s visit.Under Sir Keir Starmer, the Government committed to spending 3.5% by 2035, and expressed an “ambition” to reach 3% in the next Parliament.When John Healey, who is now Chancellor, quit as Sir Keir’s defence secretary he said he was “certain” that Britain should ramp up its spending to 3% by 2030.Mr Streeting said he had supported Mr Healey’s resignation over the question of defence funding, but he also told Sky News: “Let’s say, for argument’s sake, I just said ‘yes, we will by 2030 meet 3%’.“The inevitable next question is how will you fund it? And the trap that I’ve seen so many previous, particularly Conservative, governments fall into is setting out what they would spend or the taxes they would cut, without at the same time, saying how they would pay for it.“I’m sorry but that path leads to uncertainty, a loss of market confidence, a rise in borrowing costs, so we end up paying a heavy price if you don’t have that fiscal discipline of spelling out at the same time, not just what you will spend, or the taxes you would cut, but also how you would pay for it.”In Barrow on Thursday, Mr Burnham will set out funding to get the first of the new generation of nuclear submarines ready for service.Read MoreThe first Dreadnought class vessel, named HMS Dreadnought, will be one of four submarines made ready to replace the current Vanguard class of submarines, which operate Britain’s continuously at-sea Trident nuclear deterrent.The latest funding is billed as the fourth phase of a programme to replace Vanguard, which has been operating since the 1990s, and is reportedly coming under increasing strain.Dreadnought is expected to enter service by the mid-2030s, with Vanguard being retired at the same time.Mr Burnham has sought to portray investment in the programme as part of his bid to reindustrialise Britain and tackle joblessness among young people.During the visit he is expected to announce a new apprenticeship scheme to help recruit and train young people in the north west of England, though the “trailblazer” is only expected to result in 30 apprentices across the next three years.The Government estimates however that the Defence Nuclear Enterprise, the overall programme to build Dreadnought, supports some 47,000 jobs and apprenticeships across the country, a figure that will rise to 65,000 by 2030.The Prime Minister said: “Keeping this country safe is the first responsibility of any Government.“But security is not only about what we build, it is about who builds it, and who benefits from it.“The submarines produced in Barrow will protect Britain for decades to come, and the 47,000 jobs and apprenticeships will change lives both in this town and in dozens of places like it.“British money, spent on British workers, British firms and British skills, in the places that were written off for 40 years.“To every young person across the country, I want you to know that there is a path for you into a reindustrialised Britain and it starts with the apprenticeships we are funding through this investment today.”