Sir Keir Starmer has announced an extra £15bn for defence over the next four years, but warned it would mean some road and energy projects will now be scrapped.

The UK prime minister said on Tuesday that the long-awaited defence investment plan (DIP) would reverse the “corrosive hollowing out” of the armed forces and transform a military that has been “underfunded and unsuited to the threats we face”.

He called the blueprint “a platform on which I know my successor will build”. It has been signed off by Andy Burnham, to whom Starmer is expected to hand over power as soon as July 20.

  • ModCen@feddit.uk
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    1 day ago

    I think it’s right for the UK and Europe in general to invest in defence. Europe is on its own; nobody else will defend the continent. If Europe can’t defend itself then it probably won’t be long until the US or Russia or China decides they’d like a piece of European land for themselves (well Russia is already trying to take European land of course).

    • Squizzy@lemmy.world
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      7 hours ago

      The US and Russia are actively trying to take parts of Europe as we speak.

      Superpowers in decline.

    • Tenebris Nox@feddit.uk
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      10 hours ago

      UK is already the sixth biggest spender on defence without this latest “upgrade”. Where is all the money going if - supposedly - we don’t have a large standing army, much of the hardware doesn’t work and it takes weeks for a military vessel to set sail? Lots of this is propaganda, of course. Maybe not upgrading all the nukes at a cost of £63 billion might shift some of the money? Maybe asking WHO is being defended would be a good starting point? (And it aint the ordinary UK citizen.)

      • ModCen@feddit.uk
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        10 hours ago

        I don’t like the current governments of the US or Russia, but let’s remember that Russia is currently waging an invasion of a European country while the US is not. I hope Europe can build sufficient defence capabilities to prevent further Russian aggression towards Europe, or indeed any future American aggression towards Europe.

        • huf [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          10 hours ago

          the US doesnt need to invade europe, the US has troops stationed all over europe. US security agencies are elbow deep in european states. the US blew up nordstream to sabotage europe. the US did a coup in ukraine to get the current war going.

          but sure.