Sir Keir Starmer made misleading defence spending claim, watchdog says
Sir Keir Starmer, the former Prime Minister, made a misleading claim about defence spending, stating that ministers were increasing it by £270bn. The UK Statistics Authority has said that this figure is incorrect and misleading, as it represents the proposed overall spending on defence over the lifetime of the current Parliament. The authority has welcomed steps taken by the Wales Office and the Ministry of Defence to ensure that similar claims are not made in the future.
- ▪The UK Statistics Authority has said that Sir Keir Starmer's claim about increasing defence spending by £270bn is incorrect and misleading.
- ▪The £270bn figure represents the proposed overall spending on defence over the lifetime of the current Parliament, from 2025-26 to 2028-29.
- ▪The Wales Office and the Ministry of Defence have taken steps to ensure that similar claims are not made in the future, including reviewing press office lines and quality assurance processes.
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| Original publisher | BBC News — Politics |
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| Publication time | Thu, 06 Aug 2026 06:31:15 GMT |
| Retrieval time | 2026-08-06T06:40:42.636Z |
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Sir Keir Starmer made misleading defence spending claim, watchdog saysImage source, EPAImage caption, Earlier this year the former prime minister told MPs that ministers were increasing defence spending by £270bnByDavid DeansWales politics reporterPublished8 minutes agoFormer Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, the Wales Office and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) used misleading figures about how much the country would spend on defence, a watchdog has said.In March Sir Keir told MPs that ministers were increasing defence spending by £270bn. The two other departments later repeated similar claims in June.But the UK Statistics Authority say that is wrong, as the figure is the proposed overall amount the government plans to spend between 2025 and 2029.
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