No 10 defends military funding amid warnings of £28bn black hole

Downing Street has defended the Government’s commitment to defence, after Sir Keir Starmer was warned by the country’s top military chief of a £28 billion shortfall in the Ministry of Defence (MoD) budget.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton reportedly told the Prime Minister that an MoD assessment last year showed a £28 billion shortfall between now and 2030.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said the Government has recognised that “demands on defence are rising” and acted accordingly.

The Chancellor and Defence Secretary were also at the meeting with the military chief in the run up to Christmas, as first reported by The Times and The Sun newspapers.

News of the MoD black hole is thought to have prompted Sir Keir to order an overhaul of the defence investment plan (Dip), which has been delayed after first being expected in the autumn.

The Dip will set out how the strategic defence review is to be delivered.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman would not comment directly on the meeting, but told reporters: “We recognise demands on defence are rising, with growing Russian aggression, increasing operational requirements and preparations for a Ukraine deployment.

“That is why the Government has acted. The UK defence budget is rising to record levels as this Government delivers the biggest boost to defence spending since the Cold War, totalling £270 billion in this Parliament alone.”

The spokesman was asked repeatedly if the reported £28 billion shortfall was an official figure, and did not deny that it was.

Sir Richard took over as Chief of the Defence Staff in September and is responsible for the delivery of the strategic defence review, published in June, as the UK has pledged to boost defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027.

The review also set out a goal to raise spending to 3% in the next Parliament “when fiscal and economic conditions allow”.

The news of a shortfall comes as the UK this week pledged to put troops on the ground in Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire, and after UK bases and military personnel supported a US operation to seize an oil tanker in the Atlantic, said to be part of a “shadow fleet” seeking to evade sanctions on Iranian oil.

Defence Secretary John Healey travelled to Ukraine on Friday, for a one-day visit to Kyiv which included a meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky.

Amid a fraught global political situation, the Prime Minister has also spoken to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron about Ukraine, Greenland and Iran.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said the leaders agreed Russia’s use of an intermediate-range ballistic missile in western Ukraine on Friday was “escalatory and unacceptable”.

Sir Keir told his counterparts it was “clear Russia was using fabricated allegations to justify the attack”.

“Turning to the situation in Iran, the leaders agreed on the need for close co-ordination as events evolved and the Prime Minister reiterated his support for those who exercised their right to peaceful protest,” the spokeswoman added.

The Prime Minister also said Nato “needed to step up” in the Arctic to “deter adversaries such as Russia”.

Sir Keir spoke to US President Donald Trump for the second time in as many days on Thursday, as they discussed the threat that an “increasingly aggressive” Russia poses in the “High North”.

An MoD spokesperson said: “We are working flat out on the defence investment plan, which will fix the outdated, overcommitted, and underfunded defence programme we inherited.”