Fuming Tory MPs put pressure on Rishi Sunak over defence spending as they despair at Britain remaining on a ‘peacetime budget’ amid threat of World War Three and claim PM’s £5bn boost will merely ‘patch up’ Armed Forces

• Tory MPs put fresh pressure on Rishi Sunak over defence cash amid Ukraine war
• Government has announced extra £5bn of spending over the next two years 
• Conservative backbenchers say it’s not enough and will only ‘patch up’ military 

Tory MPs today put fresh pressure on Rishi Sunak over defence cash as they claimed the Prime Minister’s £5bn boost for military budgets would only ‘patch up’ spending.

As part of a refreshed Integrated Review on foreign and defence policy, the Government has announced an extra £5billion of defence spending over the next two years.

This will see £3billion invested in nuclear enterprises – including supporting the Aukus submarine project – with £1.9billion to replenish and bolster the UK’s munitions stockpiles following Britain’s supply of weapons to Ukraine.

Ministers have also set out an ‘aspiration’ for 2.5 per cent of GDP to be spent on defence ‘as fiscal and economic circumstances allow’.

Mr Sunak, speaking on a visit to San Diego, in the US, where he is fleshing out the Aukus pact with America and Australia, today hailed how Britain was ‘one of the largest spenders on defence anywhere in the world’.

But, back in Westminster, senior Tory MPs questioned whether the fresh £5bn commitment was enough in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and ‘as the world totters towards World War Three’.

Tory MPs put fresh pressure on Rishi Sunak over defence cash as they claimed the Prime Minister’s £5bn boost for military budgets would only ‘patch up’ spending

Ex-minister Tobias Ellwood, the Conservative chair of the House of Commons defence committee, warned the UK is operating on a ‘peacetime budget’ as a new Cold War approaches

Senior Tory backbencher Sir Bernard Jenkin, a former shadow defence secretary, warned that defence funding was ‘still the ghost at the feast’

Richard Drax – another Tory member of the defence committee – said the new cash commitment was not enough ‘as the world totters towards World War Three potentially’

Former minister Tobias Ellwood, the Conservative chair of the House of Commons defence committee, warned the UK is operating on a ‘peacetime budget’ as a new Cold War approaches.

He highlighted how the refreshed Integrated Review noted the ‘risk of escalation is greater than at any time in decades’.

‘We are sliding towards a new Cold War,’ he told MPs in the Commons as they debated the updated foreign and defence policy blueprint.

‘Threats are increasing but here we are staying on a peacetime budget.’

Mr Ellwood also told the Government: ‘Please can we move to 2.5% GDP now.’

Senior Tory backbencher Sir Bernard Jenkin, a former shadow defence secretary, warned that defence funding was ‘still the ghost at the feast’.

He said: ‘When are we going to see our Armed Forces restored to the critical mass that is capable of deterring the kind of aggression we’re seeing in Ukraine, the kind of aggressive policies we’re seeing from China?

‘Because it seems that the £5billion that is announced today is going to patch up what we should have been spending already. It’s not going to make a huge difference.’

Earlier, during defence questions in the Commons, Richard Drax – another Tory member of the defence committee – said the new cash commitment was not enough.

‘The £5billion is not sufficient to ensure our core Armed Forces are properly equipped and prepared for, God forbid, something that we all dread as the world totters towards World War Three potentially,’ he told MPs.

‘What on earth is going through the mind of the Treasury officials?’

Fellow Tory backbencher James Gray said: ‘The £5billion is disappointing, particularly if £3billion goes to Aukus and £1.9billion goes to filling up our warehouses.

‘It actually means a cut in defence spending rather than increasing it.’

But Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said it was ‘incredibly important’ that defence spending had been on an ‘upward trajectory’ since 2020.

‘The defence spending is no longer declining as it has done for the last three decades, it is on the upward trajectory,’ he told MPs.

‘In defence of my colleagues at the Treasury, the Treasury is trying to balance an economic situation post-Covid that means we have to make sure we cut our cloth and make sure that we return to economic credibility that’s so important for growing our tax receipts and our income.’

In an interview with BBC News tonight in San Diego, Mr Sunak stressed how Britain was ‘one of a handful’ of NATO members to meet the target of spending 2 per cent of GDP on defence.

‘Today, we’re going further, with £5billion more for our Armed Forces, strengthening of our nuclear enterprise – incredibly important to our future security.

‘But also an ambition to keep increasing defence spending towards 2.5 per cent in recognition of the increasing threats that we face. That’s our record.’

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