Starmer Grilled Over £5bn Defence Gap in Penultimate PMQs
Sir Keir Starmer faced Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch across the despatch box in his penultimate Prime Minister’s Questions today. Badenoch focused sharp fire on the defence funding gap identified by BBC analysis: “The Kremlin can count. How can the PM possibly say this is enough?” Starmer defended the Defence Investment Plan as the largest generation-defining commitment in decades. Sky’s Beth Rigby said Starmer “fired back with one foot out of the door” — his coronation-handover to Burnham is expected on 17 July, leaving only one more PMQs. The defence question will then sit with the incoming administration.
Badenoch’s attack landed because the numbers back her: UK defence spending will reach 2.69% of GDP by 2030 under the DIP compared with Germany’s 3.7% and Poland’s 4.48%. The BBC-identified £4.7bn funding gap is the specific figure Badenoch used, and Starmer had no clean answer beyond the political framing that Labour has done more than any Conservative predecessor. The Burnham incoming team is widely expected to revise the defence envelope upward within the first three months, potentially in the autumn budget. Reform UK MPs also pressed on immigration but the defence exchange was the moment of the session.