Reeves grudgingly resorts to departmental salami slicing to fund UK defence budget
Summary
The UK government is trying to increase defence spending by £18.5 billion over four years. Chancellor Rachel Reeves chose to fund this by making small cuts across other government departments, which upset Defence Minister John Healey, leading to his resignation.Key Facts
- The Ministry of Defence asked for an extra £18.5 billion over four years to fund defence plans.
- Chancellor Rachel Reeves responded by cutting about 1% from capital budgets of other government departments.
- Reeves also used £3.5 billion from her department's reserve funds for defence projects.
- The final defence budget increase was £13.5 billion, less than the £18.5 billion requested.
- John Healey resigned in protest over what he saw as insufficient defence funding.
- The UK government has promised to spend 3% of GDP on defence next parliament and 3.5% by 2035.
- Funding options include cutting other spending, raising taxes, or borrowing money; none are currently fully supported politically.
- Chancellor Reeves had recently relaxed rules to allow more borrowing but remains cautious due to high UK borrowing costs.
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