UK defence spending plan delay raises credibility concerns, MPs say
A parliamentary committee in the United Kingdom has said delays to the government's Defence Investment Plan are undermining the country's credibility with allies. The plan, which is meant to set out how new equipment and defence infrastructure will be funded over the next decade, was originally due in the autumn but is now expected before a Nato summit early next month. The committee said the delay is also making it harder for the armed forces to modernise at pace.
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The Public Accounts Committee said the hold-up could make procurement of the latest equipment more expensive. It said global instability was pushing up prices charged by defence contractors, meaning further delay could increase the cost of buying new systems. The report said the absence of the plan was linked to a lack of decision within the Ministry of Defence over which capabilities, infrastructure and personnel are needed to make the armed forces warfighting-ready.
A Ministry of Defence spokesman said the Defence Investment Plan would "fix the outdated, overcommitted and underfunded programme we inherited" and said officials were working to finalise it. Defence Secretary John Healey told the Commons on Monday that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was "determined to publish" the plan. The chair of the committee, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP, said the country had "now in fact gone years without a credible plan for UK military capability".
The timing matters because the plan is intended to translate the wider Strategic Defence Review, published on 2 June 2025, into funding decisions and procurement priorities. That makes it a key document for the Ministry of Defence, defence contractors and allies looking for clarity on how the UK intends to strengthen its forces. The committee said the delay was hindering the government's attempt to modernise the armed forces and could weaken deterrence.
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The report also pointed to wider concerns about the state of defence spending and delivery. The government said it had signed more than 1,400 major defence contracts since coming to power in July 2024 and described its spending as a generational increase. The committee's criticism suggests, however, that the central issue is not only the level of spending but whether the department can turn policy into a credible and timely investment plan.
What remains unclear is exactly which capabilities and programmes are still being decided, and whether the plan will be published in time for the Nato summit next month. It is also not clear how much any delay will add to procurement costs or how quickly the Ministry of Defence can resolve the outstanding choices. The next key point to watch is whether the government meets its revised timetable and whether the plan satisfies MPs' concerns about credibility and delivery.
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