Door left open for tax hikes to fund 5% defence spend

SIR Keir Starmer left the door open to tax hikes after the next election to fund his 5% defence spending commitment.

- By Katie Harris

The Prime Minister insisted Labour would “stick to our manifesto commitments” not to raise taxes for “working people”.

But the pledge to bump up defence spending to 5% of gross domestic product is not until 2035 and the party will release a fresh manifesto ahead of the next general election, due by 2029.

Asked if tax increases would be needed to pay for higher defence spending, Sir Keir said yesterday: “Every time we’ve set out our defence spending commitments, so when we went to 2.5% in 2027/28, we set out precisely how we would pay for it, that didn't involve tax rises.

“Clearly we've got commitments in our manifesto about not making tax rises on working people and we will stick to our manifesto commitments.”