Defence spending will come with ‘choices and trade-offs’ – Streeting

Wes Streeting said more spending on defence will come with “choices and trade-offs”, as he warned his critics that “you don’t make your country stronger by making our people poorer”.

The Defence Secretary said public services and national security “depend on one another” as he spoke at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool on Monday.

He said: “I know that more spending on defence comes with choices and trade-offs, but our critics on the right need to understand that you don’t make your country stronger by making our people poorer.

“And I also have to say directly to some of our critics on the left: you are not defending our public services by attacking investment in our national defences.”

Mr Streeting described Chancellor John Healey as “a champion for defence”, adding: “He knows it’s not either or when it comes to public services and national security – they depend on one another.

“But with more money comes greater responsibility.

“Every pound the Ministry of Defence spends must be spent well, and so today, I make a promise: the Ministry of Defence I lead will be at the heart of our Prime Minister’s mission to re-industrialise Britain.”