Andrew Neil has Defence minister rattled as he probes Hunt’s spending

The Conservative Party pledged to hit 3 percent in defence spending by 2030 but the new Prime Minister has so far failed to publicly state whether he would respect the manifesto commitment. With Jeremy Hunt set to unveil his new budget on Thursday, Andrew Neil challenged Mr Chalk to confirm whether spending will increase in line with the pledge or whether the Chancellor will cut funds. Speaking on his weekly The Andrew Neil Show, the broadcaster said: “I accept that Mr Sunak never signed up to the 3 percent target but he has talked about living up to the Tory manifesto of 2019.”And that manifesto promised an increase in defence of inflation plus 0.5 percent every year, so there would be a real rise.”That’s not happening any more either – real defence spending is falling. Another manifesto commitment broken.”Mr Chalk however hit back: “No, I don’t accept that. I don’t accept that, because we haven’t heard from Jeremy Hunt on Thursday [yet].”But Mr Neil persisted: “Well, do you think he’s going to increase defence spending?”JUST IN: Rishi Sunak handed Brexit fix to pull rug from under Nicola Sturgeon over IndyRef2 Andrew Neil challenged Chalk over the defence spending (Image: CHANNEL 4) Andrew Neil noted Sunak never said he would respect the 2019 manifesto (Image: CHANNEL 4)The Defense Procurement Minister said: “What I’m saying is that I think he is extremely aware of the pressures that we face.”I know that he met with senior military figures. We do face challenges – of course, we’ve given £2.3bn to Ukraine, and we are the second biggest supplier of weapons.”And I think they will understand – the Chancellor well understands and the Prime Minister well understands – the pressures that we face and the leadership role that we have taken on.”According to the latest forecast, the Ministry of Defence budget is expected to rise from £47.9 billion to £48 billion in 2023 and then to £48.6 billion in 2024.READ MORE: Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt warn of ‘tough road ahead’ with higher tax for more Brits Chalk said Hunt is aware of the pressures the UK faces (Image: CHANNEL 4)The Conservative electoral manifesto of 2019 had the party pledge to “increase the budget by at least 0.5 percent above inflation every year of the new Parliament.”Ministers are expected to argue that the target can still be met by taking the average cost over a five-year period.But the cut plans have been met with criticism from the former head of the Army General Lord Richard Dannatt, who said it was “incredible” for Westminster to consider a spending cut whilst the war in Ukraine remains ongoing.DON’T MISS: Britain’s economy can bounce back, insists Jeremy Hunt [REPORT]’The next 6 months will be tough for many as the UK faces recession’ [INSIGHT]The UK’s last recession and why the next one ‘will be the worst’  [REVEAL]JUST IN: Rishi Sunak handed Brexit fix to pull rug from under Nicola Sturgeon over IndyRef2 Jeremy Hunt is expected to increase the defence budget to £48 billion next year (Image: BBC)Lord Dannatt said: “The Government has to cut public expenditure in order to balance the books as it is reluctant to raise taxes, but it does seem incredible that with a land war in Europe it feels it can cut the defence budget.”Given that we have had 2.5 per cent and 3 per cent waived under defence planners’ noses, now to be cutting it to 2 per cent or under, it makes you wonder how on earth you can plan anything sensible for the future.”The cut could further affect the size of the British Army, which was already reduced to its smallest size in history.The number of fully trained soldiers would be reduced to 72,500.