Labour calls for increase in defence spending

Russia’s invasion demonstrates significant new threats lay much closer to home, says shadow defence secretary

Labour is calling for “a post 9/11” style increase in defence spending in response to the Ukraine crisis following forecasts that the budget could fall by up to 3% a year this parliament despite the outbreak of a war in Europe.

The party declined to put a firm figure on the commitment sought, but, in the decade after 9/11, defence spending increased by more than £10bn a year in real terms, partly to pay for costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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