Peacekeepers plan means tax rises or spending cuts’

Economists and top brass warn Starmer over Ukraine force

- ARCHIE MITCHELL and MILLIE COOKE

Sir Keir Starmer has been warned his plans to send a peacekeeping force to Ukraine may force Labour into breaking a manifesto commitment on tax and spending.

The prime minister has announced he is prepared to send British troops to defend the country as part of any peace deal, vowing to “play a leading role” in keeping it safe from Russian aggression.

But top military figures have told The Independent creating any peacekeeping force would require a major uplift in defence spending, above the shift from 2.3 per cent to 2.5 per cent of UK GDP promised by Sir Keir.

And a leading economist said that any significant rise in the defence budget would be almost impossible while sticking to the letter of Labour’s general election manifesto.

The manifesto promised not to fund day-to-day spending via borrowing, while the party ruled out any increases to national insurance, VAT, corporation tax and income tax, severely limiting Labour’s ability to raise new funds.

But after Sir Keir announced his peacekeeping plans over the weekend, military chiefs warned sending a force to Ukraine would not be possible without a major funding uplift to overhaul Britain’s hollowed-out forces.

Asked about the implications of Sir Keir’s plans to send troops to Ukraine, Institute for Fiscal Studies associate director Ben Zaranko told The Independent: “It would require spending cuts elsewhere, tax rises, or some combination of the two.