MOD chiefs play down spring budget significance over defence spending review

Ministry of Defence (MOD) officials appeared to play down the significance of the Chancellor's spring budget over an upcoming review of UK defence and security.

Civil servants from the MOD were pressed about budgetary pressures on the department during an appearance before MPs on Tuesday.

Members of the Commons Defence Committee expressed some surprise that officials could contribute to the much anticipated refresh of the integrated review – a document setting out the UK's vision and strategy on defence, security and foreign policy – without having a clear sense of what budget would be provided by the Treasury.

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Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is due to deliver his spring statement on 15 March, with reports that Defence Secretary Ben Wallace is pushing for a significant boost in his department's spending.

It comes amid the backdrop of the war in Ukraine and rising global tensions with China.

Both issues are expected to influence any changes to the integrated review.

But David Williams, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Defence, appeared to play down the need for a clear sequence between the spring statement and publication of the integrated review.

He told MPs that he did not know when the updated integrated review would be published, stressing that it was a cross-department project.

"Work is well in hand, I don't think it will be very long," he said.

"I think, for me, it is about a doubling-down and a refinement, rather than a fundamental change," he told MPs.

Pressed by committee chairman Tobias Ellwood that it was a fact that more money was needed for the MOD, Mr Williams said: "We look to get the defence budget that matches the Government's ambition for its asks of our Armed Forces."

But Democratic Unionist Party MP Gavin Robinson expressed surprise at the sequencing of the integrated review update and the spring budget, telling officials: "Do you understand it would be hard for us to conceive a process where you conclude all of your planning assumptions and publish an (integrated review) refresh without knowing what the budget is?"

Mr Williams acknowledged his point but suggested that an "assumption" about budgets might be adequate.

"We clearly need an assumption about the budget going forward to reflect any detailed changes in the plan for the Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces.

"How much of that needs to be painted in for a high-level IR refresh will rather depend on what it says."

The Government has pledged to maintain the defence budget at least 2% of GDP, amid current fiscal challenges.