Reeves grudgingly resorts to departmental salami slicing to fund UK defence budget

<p>Starmer shows no will to pursue the main options for rising commitments: spending cuts, tax rises or borrowing</p><p>When Keir Starmer wanted to promise Donald Trump that the UK would increase defence spending, he decided to fund it by slashing the UK’s aid budget – <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/feb/28/anneliese-dodds-resigns-keir-starmer-cut-aid-budget">losing a cabinet minister</a>, Anneliese Dodds, in the process.</p><p>This time around, with John Healey’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) demanding an additional £18.5bn over four years to fund the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/09/rows-over-defence-investment-plan-have-badly-harmed-cabinet-relations">defence investment plan</a>, there was no such lever to hand.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/12/rachel-reeves-departmental-salami-slicing-uk-defence-budget-keir-starmer">Continue reading...</a>

canonical claim-state bundle · Collapse: Finance