UK Defence Chief warns of crucial operational cuts without funding boost

UK Defence Chief said the government's Defence Investment Plan (DIP) did not include enough funding to support "day-to-day activities" in the short term.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton told a Lords committee that he was “most concerned” about the budgets for day-to-day activities – in his first public appearance after the resignation of John Healey as defence secretary last week.

It comes after John Healey resigned as defence secretary last week, claiming the proposed cash settlement "would reduce the readiness of our Forces and increase the risk to personnel on operations".

In a Commons statement earlier on Tuesday, he said his resignation had been "necessary in securing the future of Britain's armed forces and our alliances".

"My decision last week was about our country, not career," he told MPs.

And in a swipe at Chancellor Rachel Reeves, whom he has said was "unwilling" to provide adequate funds to meet the threats facing the nation, he warned that "our adversaries do not follow timetables set by the Treasury".

UK Defence Chief of Staff Knighton said, We’ll have to dial back our activities; our exercise, operational activity, if the level of resource funding that is available to us does not increase,"in effect referring to military activity in Europe, Ukraine and the Middle East."

The government has committed to increasing defence spending to 3.5% of national income by 2035, in line with allies in the Nato military alliance.

The defence investment plan was due to be published last week but has been delayed further following Healey's resignation.

New defence secretary Dan Jarvis is currently reviewing how the money will be spent - but there has been no suggestion from No 10 that extra cash will be found.

Last week Healey also mentioned that the UK needs to be spending 3% of gross domestic product (GDP) on defence by 2030.