Where Is the Defence Investment Plan?
You may have seen me talk a lot in recent weeks about the Defence Investment Plan and today shows exactly why.
The Defence Investment Plan is now around nine months late. This is the detailed blueprint for how the government’s defence blueprint will actually be funded: setting out how much will be spent, where it will go across the Navy, Army and RAF, what equipment and capabilities will be prioritised, and how we support and modernise our defence industry.
Yet Lord Robertson, former Labour Defence Secretary and NATO Secretary General, has warned today that there are serious concerns about complacency at the heart of this Government and a failure to act with the urgency required to deliver the plans outlined in the Strategic Defence Review (which he wrote) and the Defence Industrial Strategy. Whilst both may be ambitious, without the defence investment plan they’re nothing more than a nice idea.
Over the last couple of years, the world has become increasingly more dangerous. Yet whilst the Government has set out long-term plans and found the cash to increase welfare spending, there is still no clear plan for how we properly fund and strengthen our armed forces or support and modernise our defence industry in an increasingly dangerous world.
This matters for South West Devon. We need to be supporting jobs at HMNB Devonport, protecting our defence supply chain at Turnchapel Wharf and giving the many small businesses I’ve met in recent months the certainty they need. Britain cannot afford further delay. We need decisive action by the Government now.
