Maria Eagle corrected a written answer on Defence: Finance

1 July 2025 · Commons written answer · Ministry of Defence

Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party, Strangford) asked written question 60857 on 18 June 2025. Maria Eagle answered on 30 June 2025 for the Ministry of Defence, and Maria Eagle corrected the answer on 1 July 2025. The corrected text adds the figure 3%, which the original did not give. Altogether 7 words differ between the two versions.

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of defence budgets in the last 10 years.

Original and corrected answer

Struck through: original only. Bold: correction only.

Original	Corrected
The recent increase in defence spending is the largest sustained increase since the end of the Cold War. The Government is firmly committed to increasing defence spending to reach 2.6% of GDP by 2027 and has set an ambition to reach ~~3% by 2030,~~ as fiscal and economic conditions allow. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has also made a historic commitment to spend 5% of GDP on national security. This is a generational increase in defence and security spending, honouring our commitment to be a leader in NATO. The Department publishes historic MOD spending in cash and real terms in its annual Departmental Resources publication.	The recent increase in defence spending is the largest sustained increase since the end of the Cold War. The Government is firmly committed to increasing defence spending to reach 2.6% of GDP by 2027 and has set an ambition to reach 3%in the next Parliament, as fiscal and economic conditions allow. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has also made a historic commitment to spend 5% of GDP on national security. This is a generational increase in defence and security spending, honouring our commitment to be a leader in NATO. The Department publishes historic MOD spending in cash and real terms in its annual Departmental Resources publication.

Original

Corrected

The recent increase in defence spending is the largest sustained increase since the end of the Cold War.
The Government is firmly committed to increasing defence spending to reach 2.6% of GDP by 2027 and has set an ambition to reach ~~3% by 2030,~~ as fiscal and economic conditions allow. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has also made a historic commitment to spend 5% of GDP on national security. This is a generational increase in defence and security spending, honouring our commitment to be a leader in NATO.
The Department publishes historic MOD spending in cash and real terms in its annual Departmental Resources publication.

The recent increase in defence spending is the largest sustained increase since the end of the Cold War.
The Government is firmly committed to increasing defence spending to reach 2.6% of GDP by 2027 and has set an ambition to reach 3%in the next Parliament, as fiscal and economic conditions allow. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has also made a historic commitment to spend 5% of GDP on national security. This is a generational increase in defence and security spending, honouring our commitment to be a leader in NATO.
The Department publishes historic MOD spending in cash and real terms in its annual Departmental Resources publication.

The question and answer on the Parliament website.

Receipt

Read from	https://questions-statements-api.parliament.uk/api/writtenquestions/questions/1813972?expandMember=true
Date read	15 October 2026
SHA-256	`8daffa6937071a169cc1f55693468a6dde36389e9bbdd4ba7f021d8df244c6e5`