Minister defends long delays to UK military spending plan

A government minister has defended long delays to a military spending plan that are also stalling the UK’s next-generation Tempest fighter jet programme, but refused to say when it will be complete.The defence investment plan (DIP), originally expected last autumn, has faced repeated postponements amid warnings that the military faces a £28bn funding gap over the next four years.Luke Pollard, the minister for defence readiness and industry, told the Guardian the plan is “a bigger task than many people outside defence realise”.It will mean “fundamentally changing the shape of our armed forces, so pivoting, in particular, towards more autonomy”, he said, while also stressing the need to refill military stockpiles sent to Ukraine in recent years. “It is not a simple matter of just replacing tank A with tank B.”The plan will show how the government will fund its strategic defence review (SDR), the blueprint for transforming the military amid growing threats from Russia and rising commitments to Nato.Ministers accepted all the SDR’s recommendations when it was published last June. But the head of the military, Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, told MPs last month that defence cuts would be needed without more funding.Earlier this week, Keir Starmer reportedly convened advisers to try to find a way to overcome the funding gap. One option could be to ease chancellor Rachel Reeves’s fiscal rules to boost defence spending, reported the Financial Times. ​​A government spokesperson said the fiscal rules “are non-negotiable”.Pollard said it was “not right for me to comment on leaks”, but added: “The defence secretary and myself want it [the plan] out soon, but we’ve still got more work to do to finalise it and to get it in the right place.”“This is our moment to … put our finances on the right path,” he added, blaming the last Conservative government for budget overruns and delays to key defence projects.Pollard also confirmed that delays to the UK’s next-generation fighter jet programme, a joint project with Italy and Japan, are tied up with the publication of the plan.Ministers were expected to sign a trilateral contract for the global combat air programme (GCAP), to develop the fighter known as Tempest, by last year, but it remains unsigned because of the delays to the DIP.“We’re continuing to sign defence contracts with suppliers. GCAP is a really important program for us as we look to what’s next after Typhoon [Tempest’s predecessor],” Pollard said. “We have got plans to invest in GCAP and that is part of the consideration within the DIP.”Pollard was speaking after announcing £80m of government funding to subsidise university places for subjects important to defence, such as engineering and computer science, to tackle a skills shortage.