Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his Department's press release entitled Powerful new Royal Navy warship programme advances as milestones reached for two ships, published on 24 February 2026, if he will confirm that defence spending will increase to 2.6% of GDP from 2027.

As the Hon. Gentleman will probably already know, based on the latest GDP projections, the UK's defence spending is currently forecast to reach 2.6% of GDP in 2027.