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The Defence Investment Plan Delay
Edited by Peter Warrington, 2026-06-12 MPs clash over delays to the Defence Investment Plan, Treasury funding battles, and a potential 'kick in the face' to parliamentary scrutiny.Delays in publishing a report laying out government defence spending have undermined the UK’s credibility with its allies, a parliamentary committee that scrutinises public spending says.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0ky47v6d1no 7 June 2026
The House of Commons met on Wednesday 10th June 2026 to hear an Urgent Question from James Cartlidge (Conservative) regarding the publication of the government’s Defence Investment Plan (DIP).
Key Quotes:
“There are strong rumours that the Government are going to produce their defence investment plan on Friday. That would be an utter disgrace and an utter kick in the face to Members of this House… Once again, it seems to me that we are becoming second-class citizens under this Government.” - Mr Speaker
“This Government claim we had 14 years in which we made errors, and they may be right about many of them… but they had 14 years to plan and have now had two years in government, and we are nowhere. We are still seeing defence capability fall. In fact, NATO puts us at No. 31 out of 32 of those that have failed to meet their capability targets, and last is Iceland, which does not even have a military.” - Tom Tugendhat (Conservative)
“I really do hope that Reform can take defence more seriously and not try to dodge the important connections that we now know exist between senior Reform figures and Russia because of the bribes that the Welsh leader of Reform took from Russia. It is really important that we expose that in the public domain, because no UK party should ever be in hock to Russia.” - Luke Pollard (Labour)
“May I offer some advice to Defence Ministers in their bare-knuckle fight with the Treasury for adequate defence funding? They really should move away from this glib spin doctor’s line about defence expenditure rising faster now than at any time since the end of the cold war… Please, Minister, do not parrot a line that goes way below what we need in the circumstances that we face today.” - Sir Julian Lewis (Conservative)
“There is a reason the DIP [Defence Investment Plan] has been delayed so long, which is that Labour still has not worked out how to pay for it, but former Labour Defence Secretary George Robertson and former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair both know the answer: the Government should cut welfare to fund defence.” - James Cartlidge (Conservative)
James Cartlidge (Conservative) opened the debate:
After months of delay, there has been considerable speculation that the defence investment plan will finally be delivered this week. Is that the case? Specifically, and to echo what Mr Speaker just said, there has been considerable speculation that the DIP may be published on Friday. As Mr Speaker said, this House is not sitting on Friday. … Can he explicitly confirm, when he gets up, that the defence investment plan will be published when the House is sitting? … will he at least tell us whether the defence investment plan will set out a fully funded path to 3% of GDP, and, crucially, whether the Treasury has signed off the defence investment plan yet?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence, Luke Pollard (Labour), responded on behalf of the government:
The hon. Gentleman asked when the DIP will be published. As the Prime Minister and the Defence Secretary have said, it will be published before the NATO summit in only a few weeks’ time. … Spending decisions will be made by the Prime Minister and the Chancellor in the usual way, as applies to any Department, including the Ministry of Defence, and we will publish the defence investment plan before the NATO summit.
The Chair of the Defence Select Committee, Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour), pressed the Minister for a commitment to proper parliamentary scrutiny:
The strategic defence review set the ambition, but the defence investment plan is supposed to say what will be funded, when and with what trade-offs. Will the Minister confirm that, when the defence investment plan is finally announced, it will be announced in this Chamber to enable proper parliamentary scrutiny? Will he also confirm that it will contain all the details… rather than just a headline figure, some headline commitments and a few aspirations?
Luke Pollard (Labour) reiterated the government’s priorities, emphasizing that they are targeting real domestic industry:
UK-based firms that hire people in Britain, pay their taxes and invest in skills in Britain are the ones that we are backing in the defence investment plan. I am not interested in brass plaques.
… When we have military families living in housing with black mould in bedrooms, broken boilers and leaky roofs, the investment we are making in defence housing is absolutely vital.
Dr Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat) warned of the economic and industrial consequences of the plan’s continued delay:
The defence investment plan is still not published, and after nine months, industry waits for certainty… British firms stand ready to grow and hire, but this delay is freezing procurement, paralysing the supply chain and creating doubt about Britain’s commitment to rearmament. … Given the apparent deadlock between the Treasury and the MOD, will he seriously consider our proposal to issue £20 billion of defence bonds?
Former Security Minister Tom Tugendhat (Conservative) accused the government of hiding the truth and failing to meet basic security capabilities:
It is pretty extraordinary to see the partisan way in which the Minister has approached every single question. He has been completely incapable of giving this House, or indeed Mr Speaker, the assurance asked for on multiple occasions, and that only leads us to assume that he is hiding the untruth… he will not be bringing the defence investment plan to this House. … We are still seeing defence capability fall. In fact, NATO puts us at No. 31 out of 32 of those that have failed to meet their capability targets, and last is Iceland, which does not even have a military.
Sir Julian Lewis (Conservative) urged the government to drop political spin when negotiating with the Treasury for resources:
May I offer some advice to Defence Ministers in their bare-knuckle fight with the Treasury for adequate defence funding? They really should move away from this glib spin doctor’s line about defence expenditure rising faster now than at any time since the end of the cold war. The situation we are in now is as dangerous as any that took place… at [the cold war’s] height, when Conservative Governments… regularly spent between 4.5% and 5% of GDP on defence.
The debate grew increasingly hostile when Richard Tice (Reform) demanded a straight answer on the timing of the release:
As Mr Speaker noted earlier, the mood of the House is very much that the long-awaited defence investment plan must not be produced this Friday, yet the Minister is still unable to provide that confirmation. … Can the Minister confirm whether the plan will be produced on Friday—yes or no?
Luke Pollard (Labour) fired back, raising recent headlines surrounding Reform UK’s figures:
I say to the hon. Gentleman very clearly that we will publish the defence investment plan before the NATO summit. … I really do hope that Reform can take defence more seriously and not try to dodge the important connections that we now know exist between senior Reform figures and Russia because of the bribes that the Welsh leader of Reform took from Russia.
With ministers refusing to explicitly rule out a Friday release, James Cartlidge (Conservative) raised a Point of Order with the Deputy Speaker:
…You will have heard the very strong statement from Mr Speaker about the prospect of the defence investment plan being delivered when the House is not sitting. His words were that it would be “an utter kick in the face” to Parliament if that were to happen. … surely, given that this is such a significant plan in the context that we face internationally, we should be entitled to confirmation from the Minister that it will be not be delivered when the House is not sitting.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani) responded to conclude the session:
The Speaker made it abundantly clear at the start of the statement just how important it is that the defence investment plan is presented first to Parliament, and that Members of this House have the opportunity to ask questions about it as soon as the plan is published. As the Speaker said, I hope that speculation that the plan will be published on a non-sitting day is proven wrong. The House comes first.