𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Labour has been branded “pretty shambolic” over delays to the defence investment plan.

Tory shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge told Times Radio: “I think the really serious thing is, as you report day in day out, we’ve got conflict in the Middle East again, it’s kicked off once more, the long-running war in Ukraine.

“We desperately need to get more money into defence, everyone knows that, regardless of politics. And you’d think with all the delays we’ve had, months and months of delay, they’d have worked out how to pay for it and they still haven’t and I think that is pretty shambolic now from the Government now frankly.”

Mr Cartlidge said taxes should not be hiked to pay for the uplift after Sir Keir Starmer refused to rule out the move yesterday.

He added that the Conservatives would make major cuts to the “spiralling’ welfare budget to pay for more defence spending.