Treasury expected to announce all departmental spending for the next two years will remain as previously agreed in 2021 spending review
Rishi Sunak is planning to cut defence spending in real terms in the coming years in an apparent breach of the Conservative election manifesto.
Next week the Treasury is expected to announce that all departmental spending for the next two years will remain as previously agreed in the 2021 spending review.
That means the Ministry of Defence budget will rise in cash terms from £47.9 billion this year to £48 billion in 2023 and then £48.6 billion in 2024. But inflation, currently 10 per cent, is eating into those budgets.
Taking into account those prices means a real term defence spending cut in those years, according to the Royal United Services Institute, a leading defence think tank.