Andrew Neil rips into Keir Starmer as he points stark warning over ‘nationwide scandal’ | Politics | News | EUROtoday

Andrew Neil warned of a “national scandal” over defence spending after Sir Keir Starmer dedicated to place British boots on the bottom in Ukraine when the warfare has ended. The Prime Minister introduced on Tuesday that UK and French forces will probably be positioned in “military hubs” in Kyiv as a part of peacekeeping efforts if a deal is reached with Russia.

But Mr Neil mentioned the transfer was “a purely performative gesture” and that Sir Keir had pledged “a military he doesn’t really have because he’s starving it of funds”. He mentioned the UK was spending “peanuts” on its armed forces regardless of mounting world tensions and that the difficulty was “becoming a national scandal”.

The broadcaster wrote on X: “Keir Starmer commits to deploying British boots on the ground in Ukraine with a military he doesn’t really have because he’s starving it of funds.

“Defence spending in 2024-25 was £60.2billion. In actual phrases (2024-25 costs), will probably be £62billion this 12 months. In 2026-27, will probably be £63.5billion.

“At a time of grave geopolitical threats, these rises are peanuts — far, far less than the massive rises in welfare spending.

“Even our appeasement leaders within the Thirties elevated defence spending by much more within the face of a rising Nazi menace.

“The projected increases could not sustain a major UK deployment in Ukraine.

“I think Starmer has agreed solely as a result of he thinks the Russians would by no means settle for it, and so there will probably be no peace deal. It is a purely performative gesture.

“John Healey, the Defence Secretary, is a patriot who believes in the defence of the nation. He needs to make his voice heard.

“The failure to spend extra on our safety — and that of our allies — is turning into a nationwide scandal.”

It comes because the Government has promised to hit 2.5% of nationwide earnings on defence spending by 2027.

It has additionally set out an ambition to succeed in 3% however has not dedicated to a date for the upper goal.

US president Donald Trump has piled stress on NATO members to bump up defence spending.