Sky News presenter Wilfred Frost didn’t hold back when grilling defence secretary John Healey over Labour’s defence spending pledge — and it got tense fast.
💣 The big promise
NATO leaders are expected to agree at a summit in The Hague that every member should commit to spending 5% of GDP on defence and security by 2035. That includes 3.5% on core defence.
Labour’s current commitment? Raising the UK’s defence spending from 2.3% to 2.5% by 2027.
🧮 ‘It’s meaningless without numbers’
Frost wasn’t impressed.
“With all due respect, defence secretary, we’re at 2.3%,” he said. “It is entirely meaningless to claim you’ll hit 3.5% by 2035 unless you now update what you’re doing this parliament.”
He accused the government of kicking the can down the road and leaving it all to “the next government”.
🎤 Healey tries to defend the plan
Healey pushed back, insisting no NATO country at the summit would show up with a full 10-year budget.
But Frost wasn’t having it.
“We don’t want 10 years, we want four,” he snapped. “If you don’t get at least a third of the way there now, it’s entirely uncredible.”
💷 Where’s the cash?
Frost pointed the finger at the chancellor too. “If she doesn’t outline how she will give you the money this parliament to close that gap, this announcement is entirely uncredible.”
Healey repeated that Labour would explain future increases “in the next parliament”.
Frost wasn’t buying it: “Despite this big announcement, there’s no further spending this parliament. You’re leaving all the hard work to be done next time.”
You can watch it below:
You may also like: Brexit cost the UK £40bn – and it’s only just begun
