Ex Nato Boss Says UK Defence Investment Is Smoke And Mirrors

Vladimir Putin will see that the UK’s defence spending proposals is not fully funded and is all “smoke and mirrors”, according to a former Nato commander.

Keir Starmer unveiled the long-awaited Defence Investment Plan (DIP) on Tuesday, just three weeks before he set to officially step down as prime minister.

While he announced an extra £15 billion would be spent on defence by 2030, chancellor Rachel Reeves admitted that only two-thirds of that sum (£10.3bn) had been identified.

The remaining £4.7bn needed will have to be found at the next Budget in the autumn – when Andy Burnham is expected to be in No.10.

Sir Richard Shirreff, former Nato commander who served as deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe, tore into the DIP on BBC Radio 4′s Today programme.

He said: “The enemy has a vote here. The enemy, as in Putin, will be watching what is going on.

“When he sees that this is smoke and mirrors, that it is not being properly funded, then it sends a message of weakness.

“It sends a message of opportunity for our enemies and quite frankly it sends an appalling message to our allies in Nato.”

Starmer had been scrambling to find more money for defence before heading to his last Nato summit as leader on July 7.

He managed to find an extra £1.5bn more in recent weeks after John Healey quit as Starmer’s defence secretary over funding concerns.

But the DIP does not explain how the government intends to reach its target of 3.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) on defence by 2035.

Nato allies also pledged last year to reach 5% of national income on combined national security by the mid-2030s, with 1.5% going on defence-related areas like resilience and security.

The split target is meant to placate US president Donald Trump who has been pressuring for Nato allies to spend more on defence so they relied less on America.

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