Badenoch: Cut benefits to fund £10bn defence spending package

Kemi Badenoch has called for the government to reduce housing benefits, child benefits, and reallocate public resources in order to allocate £10 billion annually towards defence spending. The Conservative leader previously supported a rise in defence expenditure without providing a comprehensive funding strategy. She urged Chancellor John Healey to implement welfare cuts to support the military.

Healey resigned as Defence Secretary over a lack of commitment to raise defence spending to 3% of GDP by 2030, a goal now backed by influential Labour backbenchers. Andy Burnham, the Labour Party's former Health Secretary, had previously pledged to meet this target. The Conservatives intend to fund this increase by eliminating the two-child benefit cap, which costs £3 billion annually, and by discontinuing the Chagos Islands transfer, generating approximately £200 million annually.

Additional savings of nearly £8 billion could be achieved from reforms to housing benefits, alongside a £4 billion reduction from reforms in other areas. This plan would both boost the defence budget and lessen the national deficit. Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge warned that further delays in funding could heighten the risk to national security, emphasizing the need to cut the welfare bill, reallocate funding from other sectors, and invest an extra £10 billion annually in the armed forces to fulfill NATO commitments and safeguard the nation.