Defence Spending to increase

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has unveiled her spending review, promising £39 billion for social and affordable housing, an extension to free school meals and the £3 bus fare cap, and a 3 per cent spending increase for the NHS a year, after inflation.

This is the first multi-year spending review since 2021 and will set the day-to-day budgets of government departments over the next three years.

The Home Office day-to-day budget will go down by 1.7% in real terms over the next three years, while the "spending power" of police forces will go up by an average 2.3% per year in real terms by 2029. Annual funding for the Border Security Command, will increase by up to £280m by 2029.

The Ministry of Defence day-to-day budget will go up 0.7 per cent in real terms and defence spending will rise from 2.3 per cent to 2.5 per cent of overall economic output by 2027.

Chief Constable Gavin Stephens, chair of the National Police Chiefs Council, said: “We recognise that the Government faces tough financial choices. In the face of these challenges, it’s now more important than ever that police chiefs and government continue to unite behind radical reform for policing, and crucially, give forces the flexibility they need to modernise their workforce.

“Despite the news today, our ambition to tackle violence against women and girls, reduce knife crime and build confidence in local policing remains.

“However, it is clear that this is an incredibly challenging outcome for policing. In real terms, today’s increase in funding will cover little more than annual inflationary pay increases for officers and staff.

“We fully support the Government’s drive to cut crime and grow officer numbers, but for these to succeed, investment in policing must live up to the ambition.”