No 10 does not rule out defence spending increase could go to Chagos deal

Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of failing to guarantee the recently announced uplift in defence spending will not be spent on the contentious Chagos Islands deal. After initially refusing to set out a timeline to increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP, the prime minister confirmed on Tuesday the threshold would be met by 2027, with an ambition to reach 3% in the next parliament. The move has been funded by a cut in the foreign aid budget from 0.5% of GDP to 0.3%, which the government says will release £13.4bn annually for defence – although experts say the…