Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has received a stark warning from the UK's most senior military commander about a multi-billion pound black hole in the defence budget, according to a new report.
A £28 Billion Warning for the Treasury
Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, the Chief of the Defence Staff, reportedly informed the Prime Minister of a £28 billion funding shortfall projected over the next four years. The meeting, which also included Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Defence Secretary John Heeley, took place before Christmas.
The alarming figure stems from an internal Ministry of Defence (MoD) assessment conducted last year, which forecasts the significant budget gap between now and the 2030 financial year. This revelation has the potential to heavily influence the government's long-awaited Defence Investment Plan (DIP).
Strategic Ambitions Meet Fiscal Reality
The funding warning arrives at a critical juncture for UK defence policy. Sir Richard, who assumed his role in September, is directly responsible for delivering the strategic defence review published in June. That review committed the UK to increasing defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027, with an aspirational goal of reaching 3% in the next parliament.
"We are working flat out on the Defence Investment Plan, which will fix the outdated, overcommitted, and underfunded defence programme we inherited," an MoD spokesperson told The Independent. They added that the UK defence budget is rising to "record levels," with a total of £270 billion allocated for this parliament alone.
Global Commitments Intensify Pressure
The financial concerns are amplified by escalating international military commitments. This week, Britain joined France and Ukraine in signing a historic agreement in Paris. The pact commits to putting UK and French troops on the ground in Ukraine should a ceasefire with Russia be established, a move described as a "significant step forward."
Furthermore, UK resources were recently involved in a US-led operation in the Atlantic to seize an oil tanker believed to be part of a sanctions-evading "shadow fleet" carrying Iranian oil. Prime Minister Starmer also held his second call in two days with US President Donald Trump on Thursday, discussing the threat from an "increasingly aggressive" Russia in the Arctic region, known as the "High North."
A Government source maintained that the UK remains "on track" to fulfil the commitments of its strategic review. However, the reported £28 billion gap underscores the immense challenge of matching ambitious global security goals with the nation's economic constraints.
