Having called for an increase in Defence spending in these pages last month, I was very pleased the Prime Minister last week announced a significant uplift in the Defence budget to 2030.

Given the threats we face as a nation, the government has set out new plans to increase spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP on Defence by 2030. This increase starts now, and will mean a steady increase averaging £3.6bn a year over each of the next six years – an average 6% increase each year.   

The war in Ukraine has provided dramatic lessons on how war has evolved in recent years, and we will need to adapt our plans accordingly – effective deterrent of aggressors costs more money. Traditional platforms, while still important, now must be supplemented with new innovations like drone and laser capabilities.

In 2018, I was tasked by the then Secretary of State for Defence to lead a review into how defence spending enhances prosperity across the UK. So I welcome that this increased investment will fire up the UK industrial base, including £1 billion a year over 10 years on new munitions, to improve supply of air defence missiles, anti-armour munitions, and 155mm artillery ammunition. Not only will this address the pressing need to increase munitions stockpiles, as the war in Ukraine has highlighted, but will also help create jobs across the country.

Having been a Defence Minister, with responsibility for procurement, I know the challenges the Armed Forces face when it comes to long term equipment plans. To combat some of these challenges, the government has also announced plans to accelerate defence procurement and create a new Defence Innovation Agency to ensure the UK is at the cutting edge of modern warfare technology, roughly doubling to 5% the R&D investment within the defence budget.

This spending uplift is good news, and is a key step towards the 3% of GDP I called for last month. But it does not reverse cuts to the size of the British Army, which again, I have called for in the past. I am, however, a realist – any government must work within the economic situation in which it finds itself, and balancing the country’s budget requires tough decisions. There is no department in Whitehall that does not feel it could do more good with more money.

It is up to voters to signal to politicians where we would like that limited funding to be spent. I would encourage voters to consider which party will take seriously the very real need for investment in Defence to counter the heightened threat from malign actors we now see waging war in Europe and beyond.