Race across the East: Political parties failing on defence, says ex-MP

All the political parties are letting the UK down on defence spending, the former MP for an army town has told the BBC.

As part of the BBC Politics East's Race across the East, presenter Amelia Reynolds talked to Sir Bob Russell, who between 1997 and 2015 was the Liberal Democrat MP for Colchester in Essex - which is home to the Parachute Regiment.

The former House of Commons defence select committee member said plans by the main political parties to raise defence spending by 2.5% were "not enough".

"It's got to be at least 4% in my opinion," he said.

"You can have all the policies in the world... but if your country is not secure, as the people in Ukraine are witnessing, you don't have a country.

"All political parties are failing this country on defence. When there are trouble spots around the world, the chances are there are going to be soldiers from Colchester."

The Conservative Party said it was committed to spending 2.5% of GDP on defence. The current NATO target is 2%.

The manifesto talks variously about meeting the new target “by” or “in” 2030. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak claimed only the Tories could keep Britain safe, in contrast to what he called “an uncertain Keir Starmer”.

The Labour Party said it was "committed to spending 2.5% of GDP on defence as soon as we can, securing our country’s future".

Labour said: "We will maintain an unshakeable commitment to NATO and our nuclear deterrent, and put a renewed focus on improving morale in our armed forces."

The Liberal Democrats said they would "strengthen our Armed Forces and support the people who work in them".

It aims to maintain the "UK’s support for NATO, and accordingly increasing defence spending in every year of the Parliament, with an ambition to spend at least 2.5% of GDP on defence".

The Green Party would dismantle Britain’s entire Trident nuclear deterrent and remove all foreign nuclear weapons from UK soil.

But the party would also keep the UK in the Nato military alliance, saying it has “an important role in ensuring the ability of its member states to respond to threats to their security”.

Reform UK would "increase Defence Spending to 2.5% of National GDP by year three, then 3% within six years.

It would also introduce an "urgent pay review" to "increase basic pay across our armed forces to boost recruitment and retention. It is unacceptable that a private soldier is paid less than an Amazon worker".

BBC Politics East will be broadcast on Sunday, 16 June at 10:00 GMT on BBC One in the East of England, and will be available after broadcast on BBC iPlayer.

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