Chancellor to announce extra defence cash as SNP call for public service investment

The chancellor is set to announce an additional £2.2bn for defence as the SNP urges the UK Government to avoid “austerity cuts” to public services.

Rachel Reeves will deliver her spring statement in Westminster this afternoon. While it is not expected to include policy announcements, she is expected to set spending reduction targets in unprotected departments.

UK ministers have repeatedly had to deny they are reintroducing austerity measures in recent weeks as a result, pointing to the fact the overall spending is increasing.

But changes to the welfare system in particular – aiming to reduce the benefits bill by £5bn – has caused significant backlash from Labour MPs as well as some opposition parties.

Other cuts – such as to free school meals and the size of the civil service – have also been floated.

Speaking ahead of the statement, SNP MP Dave Doogan called on the chancellor to “scrap her devastating plans”.

He added: “The chancellor is making the wrong political choices by cutting public services, and slashing support for families, instead of ditching her damaging Tory spending rules and tackling the root causes of Brexit Britain's broken economy, including the failure to rejoin the EU single market.

"The world has changed but the chancellor hasn't. Her broken Tory fiscal rules are a failed relic of the past, her National Insurance tax hike is destroying jobs and growth, and her Brexit policies are wiping billions of pounds from public finances every year.”

But in a trail of her speech, the Treasury said the chancellor will vow to bring about “security and national renewal”. That includes extra cash for the Ministry of Defence – paid for by changes to Overseas Development Assistance and Treasury reserves – taking total defence spending to 2.36 per cent of GDP, up from 2.3 per cent in 2024/25.

Reeves is expected to say: “Our task is to secure Britain’s future in a world that is changing before our eyes.

“The job of a responsible government is not simply to watch this change. This moment demands an active government stepping up to secure Britain’s future. A government on the side of working people.

 “To grasp the opportunities that we now have and help Britain reach its full potential, we need to go further and faster to kickstart growth, protect national security and make people better off through our Plan for Change.”