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Defence: Expenditure

Asked by Sir Mel StrideConservativeTreasuryTabled Answered 11 March 2025UIN 34811

The question

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of whether real-terms or nominal figures provide the most accurate metric for evaluating an increase in defence spending.

Answered by Darren Jones

£13.4bn represents the increase in total NATO qualifying defence spending from 2024-25 to 2027-28 based on OBR forecasts. As the Prime Minister has announced, defence spending will reach 2.5% GDP in 2027-28. Our GDP percentage spent on defence is the key metric used in reference to defence spending, in line with our NATO commitments.

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