Labour minister squirms as Fiona Bruce skewers him over defence budget

Labour's Luke Pollard was left floundering when he several times failed to clarify whether he felt increasing Britain’s defence spending to the 2.5% increase of GDP was sufficient to meet increasing challenges.

Fiona Bruce put the armed forces minister on the spot during an awkward Question Time exchange on Thursday, after audience member Helen Bates asked: “Is increasing the defence budget to 2.5% while cutting overseas aid enough to ensure our security?”

The question was in relation to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s announcement earlier this week that Labour would commit to increasing UK defence spending by 2.5% of GDP by the end of the next Parliament.

The move was intended to bolster the UK's military capabilities in response to growing global threats, particularly from Russia and other rising security challenges.

Mr Pollard said: “We live in really difficult times at the moment. I see the briefings, the threat assessments about how challenging it is to provide the security the first duty of this Government, and I'm glad the Prime Minister is taking it so seriously, is to keep our country safe.

"That's why increasing the defence investment from £66 billion, so about 2.3% of our GDP at the moment, to 2.5%, or £79 billion by April 2027 is such an important part of renewing our armed forces to meet the threats that we're facing now.”

Ms Bruce interjected: "But the question Helen is asking is, is 2.5% enough?”

Mr Polllard said: "2.5% helps us deliver the changes we need in our military to deal with the underfunding and hollowing out that we've seen over the last 14 years.”

Ms Bruce pushed him several more times, eventually saying: “You're not answering the question.

"I'm sorry, because you're just not going to answer.”

He replied: “This investment will make a really big difference,” and Ms Bruce hit back: "Look at your face.

"You don't want to answer this question. You're not going to say what percentage of GDP should we be spending.”

Ms Bruce then threw the discussion open to the audience, with one man saying: "You've got a great demonstration there of what frustrates the public about politicians.

“You've got loads of smoke and mirrors and reluctance to actually give a straight answer to questions."

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Sir Keir said: "We will keep our manifesto commitment to spend 2.5% of our GDP on defence.

“But in light of the grave threats we face we will bring that target forward so we meet it in 2027.

"That is an increase of £13.4bn year on year compared to where we are today."