Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to paragraph 1.2.of the Office for Budget Responsibility's report entitled Economic and Fiscal Outlook, published on 26 March 2025, what assessment he has made of the (a) affordability and (b) achievability of increasing defence spending to 2.5% of GDP from April 2027.

The Government is committed to increasing defence spending to 2.5% of GDP in 2027, with an ambition to increase to 3% in the next Parliament as fiscal and economic conditions allow.

The increase to defence spending is fully funded. ODA is being reduced to the equivalent of 0.3% of GNI to fund the additional spend required to ensure we reach 2.5% of GDP on defence spending in 2027-28.