Defence funding, NHS delivery and public safety dominated a combative PMQs
The central clash of the session was over defence. Mrs Badenoch argued that the Government’s new plan for the armed forces did not add up, asking why the Prime Minister thought “half that amount is enough” after the Chief of the Defence Staff had said the military needed a minimum of £28 billion more. The Prime Minister replied that Labour had already delivered “two major funding increases in just two years” and said the plan amounted to “the most significant upgrade in defence spending since the 1980s”. He cited endorsements from the Chief of the Defence Staff, the First Sea Lord, the Chief of the Air Staff and NATO’s Secretary-General, and said the money would go into drones, nuclear capability, naval bases and fighter jets.
Mrs Badenoch kept coming back to the same point: that the plan was underfunded, delayed and dependent on savings that had not been found. She said the Defence Secretary had resigned over decisions that would “increase the risk to personnel on operations”, and later warned that the plan was “£5 billion short” and relied on “£11 billion of unidentified savings”. She repeatedly asked whether the gap would be met by “increase borrowing, increase taxes, or cut welfare”. The Prime Minister did not answer with a direct choice. Instead, he argued that the Government had created “headroom of £22 billion” at the last Budget and that this gave him space to fund defence outside a Budget and outside a spending review. He said the Conservatives had “cut defence spending” in office and had “put [the welfare bill] up by £88 billion”, adding that his Government would not take lectures from them.
The Opposition Leader pressed the attack again by quoting former military figures. She said Lord Dannatt had called the plan the “cheap option” and “woefully inadequate”, while General Sir Richard Barrons had said Britain was “simply not going to be ready to defend this country properly”. She then asked whether the right hon. Member for Makerfield, Andy Burnham, had agreed to fund the shortfall. The Prime Minister answered that the country’s defence budget would rise from £54 billion a year when he became Prime Minister to £80 billion by 2029, a “real-terms increase of 27%”. He said his critics were ignoring the Conservatives’ record, which he described as “14 years of failure”, and told the House that “any Labour Prime Minister would stand behind this plan”.
Mrs Badenoch’s final set of questions kept the same focus: she said the plan should have been in the last Budget, not the next one, and argued that the Prime Minister was leaving the issue to his successor. She asked him again whether Andy Burnham knew he would have to find £5 billion. The Prime Minister repeated that the Conservatives had cut defence and increased welfare spending, and said Labour had used the last Budget to create the financial room to act. He also said public services were improving, citing “the fastest fall in NHS waiting lists for 17 years”, and argued that Britain was now in a better position internationally than when Labour took office.
The debate then widened to other parties. Ed Davey raised missile defence and said the funding in the Government’s plan “falls dangerously short”, asking why the Prime Minister had “chosen to leave our country so vulnerable to missile attack”. The Prime Minister replied that the plan gave the country the capability set out in the strategic review and dismissed Liberal Democrat defence bonds as “borrowing by another name”. He also reminded the House that Mr Davey had sat in a Cabinet that cut defence spending by 22%.
Mr Davey then moved to racism and hate crime, saying a British friend of Indian ancestry had been threatened by Reform activists who allegedly said her family’s passports would be seized and citizenship revoked. He asked the Prime Minister to condemn those “stoking it”. The Prime Minister gave a serious response, saying racism and intolerance were “permeating everywhere” and “tearing our societies apart”. He referred to Jo Cox and David Amess, said things had “got worse” over the past decade, and said anyone who fans hatred “should be absolutely ashamed of themselves”.
Among backbench contributions, Dr Al Pinkerton, a Liberal Democrat, raised the proposed new Frimley Park hospital and said the preferred site was environmentally damaging and may have been “known and being openly discussed” before the formal process began. The Prime Minister replied that the trust had identified its preferred site and that technical work could begin, while accusing the Tories of promising “40 new hospitals with no funding and no delivery plan”. He said Labour was rebuilding the hospital and suggested the MP was “standing up for golf courses” rather than the project.
Rachel Hopkins, a Labour MP, welcomed the Government’s housing figures and asked for faster council house building. The Prime Minister said Labour was delivering the “biggest boost to social and affordable housing in a generation”, backed by £39 billion, and said the Social Housing Bill would reform right to buy.
Another notable intervention came from Mark Sewards, who described distressing cases involving babies and a funeral director and said there was still no regulation of the funeral industry. The Prime Minister called the details “horrifying” and said “the status quo here is not working for families”, adding that the Government would “consider this issue closely” and wanted “stronger standards and oversight”.
There were also lighter moments. The Prime Minister wished England well for their football match, said the team represented “the talent, ambition and diversity of this country”, and mentioned £400 million for grassroots facilities and more than £1 billion for school sports. But even here the tone returned to defence when Ed Davey joked about footballers and “a solid defence plan”, prompting laughter in the Chamber. The Prime Minister later told the SNP’s Dave Doogan that his party gave “no more advice and sanctimonious nonsense” and used the exchange to attack the SNP’s record in Scotland.
AI-assisted recap of the official Hansard record. Quotes are verbatim — follow the links in the live feed to check each against Hansard. Spotted an error? Let us know.