There are less than three weeks to go until the UK goes to the polls on Thursday 4 July, and this week parties have started to publish their manifestoes – setting out their vision for the next five years.
Many of the commitments have been trailed well in advance of the announcements, so it is no surprise that the three main parties have all made commitments to increasing military spending:
The Conservative manifesto commits to “Boost defence spending to our new NATO standard of 2.5% of GDP by 2030”. There have been calls from some in the Conservative party to go further and pledge to reach 3% of GDP before the end of the next Parliament.
Labour has been slightly more cautious on making specific commitments, but the manifesto promises to “conduct a Strategic Defence Review within the first year of our government, and we will set out the path to spending 2.5 per cent of GDP on defence”.
The Liberal Democrat manifesto commits the party to “increasing defence spending in every year of the Parliament, with an ambition to spend at least 2.5% of GDP on defence.”
Not all parties have made these commitments, however. The Green Party makes no reference to plans for military spending in their manifesto and Plaid Cymru go further – stating “we oppose increasing defence spending’.
Further manifestos will be published in due course and we will update once they are.
Many constituencies will also have various other candidates standing including independents. Find out who is standing in your constituency.
