Keir Starmer makes ‘total’ commitment to UK nuclear deterrent

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has made a “total” commitment to Britain’s nuclear deterrent and said he hopes to boost military spending to 2.5 per cent of national income, in a hawkish intervention on defence policy.

Starmer on Friday visited the yard in Barrow in Cumbria where all the UK’s submarines are built, including the ones that carry the country’s nuclear weapons, to underscore a message aimed at persuading swing voters, who backed the Tories at the last election, that he will be tough on defence.

In an article in the Daily Mail, a publication read by many Tory supporters, Starmer described the “humbling experience” of watching a nuclear submarine being built, rhetoric sharply at odds with that of his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn.

Corbyn, Labour leader until 2019, was deemed by many traditional Labour voters as being soft on defence and said he would never instruct the use of nuclear weapons if he became prime minister.

“I’m proud that today I’ll be the first Labour party leader in over 30 years to visit the shipyard of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, to see these incredible boats being built,” Starmer wrote in the Mail.

“My commitment to Nato and the UK’s nuclear deterrent — maintained on behalf of Nato allies — is unshakeable. Absolute. Total. The changed Labour party that I lead knows that our national security always comes first.”

Starmer told ITV News that, unlike Corbyn, he would be prepared to authorise the use of nuclear weapons if he became prime minister, saying that “deterrence only works if there is a preparedness to use it”.

To win a majority at the general election expected this year, Starmer will have to win back millions of voters who switched to the Conservatives in 2019 and is increasingly pitching his message to that audience.

He often appears in front of the union jack and both he and fellow shadow cabinet members have recently started speaking approvingly about aspects of the premiership of former Tory leader Margaret Thatcher.

In a separate interview with the i newspaper, Starmer matched a Conservative aspiration to increase Britain’s defence spending to 2.5 per cent of gross domestic product.

“On defence spending, obviously we want to get to 2.5 per cent as soon as resources allow that to happen,” he said. “That was the position when Labour left government and we absolutely stand by our commitment to Nato.”

The “as soon as resources allow” caveat is crucial, however, given the pressures on an incoming government to increase spending on a range of strained public services at a time of constrained finances. It also echoes the government’s line on an economically prudent approach to increasing the military budget.

Currently Britain spends just under 2.3 per cent of GDP once military aid to Ukraine is included, but all European governments are under pressure to spend more to counter the increased threat posed by Russia.

On his visit to the Barrow yard, owned by defence contractor BAE Systems, Starmer announced a new “triple lock” commitment to the nuclear deterrent. He said a Labour government would remain committed to building all four Dreadnought-class submarines, which are due to replace the existing Vanguard-class boats that carry Britain’s nuclear weapons.