An increase in the defence budget of £11billion over the next five years has been confirmed.
The Ministry of Defence will receive an additional £6billion on top of the £5billion that prime minister Rishi Sunak had already promised for this year and in 2024.
But defence secretary Ben Wallace (pictured) had reportedly asked for the whole £11billion within two years.
He has said Britain’s ‘hollowed out’ armed forces badly need money to rebuild as high inflation eats into spending power.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said: ‘Following representations from our persuasive defence secretary, I confirm we will add a total of £11billion to our defence budget over the next five years and it will be nearly 2.25 per cent of GDP by 2025.
‘We were the first large European country to commit to two per cent of GDP for defence and will raise that to 2.5 per cent as soon as fiscal and economic circumstances allow.’
Mr Hunt also confirmed more than £30million to increase the capacity of the Office for Veterans’ Affairs.
Spring budget 2023: Key points
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- 30 hours of free childcare for every child over the age of 9 months
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To get the latest from the budget announcement visit Metro.co.uk’s Metro’s Budget news hub.
He noted this would ‘support veterans with injuries returning from their service and increase the availability of veteran housing’.
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