Lord Robertson is a highly respected Labour ‘grandee’ and ex-Nato chief, asked by Starmer over a year ago to assist with a future Defence review.
I repeat, asked by Starmer to advise.
Robertson: “Britain’s welfare budget is now five times the amount we spend on defence. So I ask, are we certain that this is the right priority – jeopardising people’s future safety and security, while maintaining an increasingly unsustainable welfare bill?”
He was backed by fellow Labour peer Lord Hutton, who served as both defence and work and pensions secretary in the last Labour government.
Lord Hutton urged Sir Keir to grip the issue as the ‘defining moment in his premiership’, saying he has ‘a very, very short period of time to start putting this right and sending out the signals to Vladimir Putin’ that Britain is serious about defending itself.
He told Times Radio that the Government has ‘got to get a grip on the rising welfare budget’. But he warned that, almost two years in, ‘there’s no real sign that it’s got any agenda for correcting the very steep rise in welfare payments’.
Reeves and the Treasury are purely focused on Welfare, as opposed to defence.
Robertson goes on to say: “Three reviewers – a former defence secretary, a former general and a current foreign policy guru – were hired by Keir Starmer and John Healey to look at every aspect of UK defence, which we did with the aid of more than 150 experts and an unprecedented public consultation.”