Target: 3.0% of GDP by Y10, up from current ~2.3%. Phased: 2.4% Y2, 2.5% Y3, 2.7% Y5, 2.85% Y7, 3.0% Y10.
3.0% of GDP defence spending by Y10. At projected GDP of ~£3.2tn, this equates to ~£96bn defence budget vs current ~£67bn. Additional spending £29bn/year at full scale, of which ~£18bn is attributable to new commitments and ~£11bn to existing trajectory/inflation.
Defence spending is unusually capital-heavy. Equipment procurement (submarines, aircraft, ships, vehicles, missiles, ammunition) is capital investment. Personnel, operations, maintenance are revenue.
This capital weighting is fiscally favourable under the framework: major equipment programmes financed via dedicated defence infrastructure gilts against productive assets.
Position: Rebuild armed forces personnel numbers and reserves capability.
Costs: ~£3bn/year additional personnel costs by Y5, ~£6bn/year by Y10.
AUKUS is the largest UK defence programme in generations and requires sustained investment through multiple parliaments.
Cost: AUKUS is the single largest capital programme in British government. ~£8–10bn/year capital at peak, falling to ~£4–5bn/year sustainment. Budget is partially already committed under existing plans but requires protection against cost overruns.
The single most urgent defence industrial priority.
Cost: £2bn/year capital for 10 years, plus ~£0.5bn/year revenue for maintenance of stockpiles.
Strategic link: Rolls-Royce SMR civil programme and naval propulsion (PWR3 for Astute/Dreadnought, potential next-generation successor) share fundamental technology, workforce, and supply chain.
Cost: R&D ~£300m/year additional; facility investment absorbed in AUKUS and civil SMR programmes.
Position: Tempest (Global Combat Air Programme with Japan and Italy) protected and accelerated.
Cost: Tempest programme ~£3bn/year at peak (already in defence baseline, needs protection rather than additional commitment).
Position: Fleet size restored after decades of cuts.
Industrial implication: UK surface shipbuilding supported across Glasgow, Rosyth, Belfast, Birkenhead. Maintains "sovereign warship" capability that collapsed in many NATO countries.
Cost: Naval shipbuilding programme ~£4bn/year capital at peak, sustained.
Position: Rebuild armoured and mechanised capability with UK sovereignty where possible.
Cost: ~£2bn/year additional capital Y5-Y10 for army modernisation.
Position: Recognised as equal domain to conventional forces.
Cost: ~£1.5bn/year additional by Y5.
Position: End the consultancy capture of defence procurement.
Cost saving: £500–800m/year by Y5 via consultancy reduction.
The Brigade of Gurkhas has served the British Army for more than two centuries, has earned twenty-six Victoria Crosses, and has served with distinction through Iraq, Afghanistan, and every significant deployment this country has asked of them. A Gurkha earned the Victoria Cross in Afghanistan within living memory. Their service is not in question. What is in question is whether the state has treated them fairly in return. It has not. The platform corrects three specific failings.
Immediate family reunification rights for direct family. The spouse and minor or dependent children of any Gurkha veteran with four or more years of service receive automatic settlement rights in the United Kingdom, processed on standard family-reunification timelines with no additional income threshold. This applies to direct family only. Adult independent children, adult siblings, and extended family are out of scope. The principle is that a veteran who earned the right to settle in Britain earned the same right for the household they serve to support.
Pension uplift review in the first year of office. Gurkhas who retired before 1997 draw pensions calculated on the Indian Army pay scale rather than the British Army scale, and the partial uplifts since then have not closed the gap. A purchasing-power-adjusted uplift review will be conducted and published within the first year. The principle: a dignified retirement in Nepal does not require British-scale cash parity, but the current scheme falls short of that dignity threshold and will be corrected.
First-year audit of welfare and service conditions. A binding audit, with published findings, covering healthcare access for veterans and widows in Nepal, widows' pension provision (currently patchwork), and in-service conditions where complaints persist. Findings actioned within the same parliament.
The Brigade of Gurkhas is also the foundational precedent for the wider Commonwealth recruitment pathway that the 3% defence commitment depends on. Britain's reservist depth in an era of Russian rearmament and European full-scale conflict risk will rest on formalising and expanding the arrangements that have worked for two hundred years, not on pretending they are exceptional.
| Item | Y5 rev | Y5 cap | Y10 rev | Y10 cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personnel + reserves + cadets | £3bn | — | £6bn | — |
| Ammunition/missile production | £0.5bn | £2bn | £0.7bn | £2bn |
| SMR naval R&D | £0.3bn | — | £0.3bn | — |
| Army modernisation | — | £1.5bn | £0.3bn | £2bn |
| Naval shipbuilding (above baseline) | — | £1.5bn | £0.5bn | £2bn |
| RAF capability (Tempest protection) | £0.5bn | — | £1bn | £1bn |
| Cyber/space/EW | £1bn | £0.5bn | £1.5bn | £0.5bn |
| Procurement reform savings | −£0.5bn | — | −£0.8bn | — |
| AUKUS sustainment above baseline | £0.2bn | £1.5bn | £0.5bn | £3bn |
| TOTAL ADDITIONAL | £5bn | £7bn | £10bn | £10.5bn |
Defence spending is industrial policy that comes with existing political consent. The workforce implications are enormous:
Indirect employment through supply chain: ~500,000 jobs across the UK, concentrated in Barrow, Derby, Bristol, Warton/Samlesbury, Glasgow/Scotstoun, Rosyth, Belfast, Stevenage, Crawley.
Every £1bn of defence equipment spend at UK firms: approximately 7,000–10,000 FTE jobs created or sustained, concentrated in productive regions outside London/SE.
Commitment: UK content rules for defence procurement. Minimum 60% UK value added for all major programmes where UK industry has capability. Where UK lacks capability, sovereign capability development programme funded.
Pitch to defence constituency: "We will properly fund the armed forces for the first time in a generation. Real personnel numbers. Modern equipment. Stockpiles that can sustain operations. Procurement reform so your money buys capability, not consultancy reports. 3% of GDP, phased, permanent."
Pitch to industrial constituency: "British warships built in British shipyards. British submarines at Barrow. British aero engines at Derby. British combat aircraft at Warton. The AUKUS programme will sustain British industry for 30 years. We will not let this country lose its sovereign defence industrial base."
Pitch to fiscal constituency: "3% of GDP by Y10 (2036) is achievable, affordable, and strategically necessary. We've set out the phasing, we've set out the capital/revenue split, we've set out where the savings come from. This is the defence commitment our allies expect and our security requires."
Pitch to youth constituency: "We are not bringing back conscription. But we are rebuilding Cadet Forces in every school that wants them, we are restoring the Reserves, and we are creating pathways from military service into productive civilian employment. If you want to serve your country, we will make that a real option again."
Pitch to regions: "Defence industrial policy is regional policy. Barrow, Derby, Rosyth, Govan, Belfast, Warton, Bristol — these are the places that build Britain's defence. We will make sure they continue to."