Tri-Service

UKIP Pledges to Meet Two Per Cent Defence Spending Target

UKIP has entered the defence spending debate by promising to be the only major political party to spend two per cent of Britain’s GDP on military needs, while promising tax and spending cuts and a crackdown on immigration.

The party's economic spokesperson Patrick O’Flynn outlined the pledge to pump £3 billion a year more into military budgets to stay in line with NATO targets, in part by re-allocating funds from international aid and membership of the EU.

He added that UKIP would grant employers the right to discriminate in favour of British job-seekers - a suggestion, he said, saw "all hell break loose" when mentioned by Mr Farage recently.

Mr O'Flynn also said his party would bring down UK taxpayer funding per head in Scotland to the level of England, saving "several billion" in public money.

"The truth of it is, most households are worse off than they were five years ago or ten years ago because of the massive, massive pressure on wages that has come directly as a result of uncontrolled mass migration of unskilled labour coming in to this country," he said.

"That is what has made the average British family poorer and you will not hear that argument made by either of the two so-called major parties' front benches."

The Conservatives and Labour, meanwhile, have refused to say if they will ensure defence spending does not fall below the two per cent target.

The Prime Minister has come under pressure from some within his own party and from some senior military figures who say the pledge is crucial to maintaining the country's defence capability.

UKIP leader Nigel Farage

Mr Farage, meanwhile, made no mention of being chased out of a pub with his family by protesters at the weekend, or his party's current problems with candidates.

A disciplinary panel is expected to decide the fate of UKIP MEP and parliamentary candidate Janice Atkinson later today after her chief of staff was filmed apparently asking for an inflated invoice to claim on European expenses.

Asked about Ms Atkinson, deputy party leader Paul Nuttall said, "We are here to do the politics not the managerial side."