Sir Keir Starmer made misleading defence spending claim, watchdog says

Former Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, the Wales Office and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) used misleading figures about how much the country would spend on defence, a watchdog has said.

In March Sir Keir told MPs that ministers were increasing defence spending by £270bn. The two other departments later repeated similar claims in June.

But the UK Statistics Authority say that is wrong, as the figure is the proposed overall amount the government plans to spend between 2025 and 2029. The Wales Office deleted a post on X that had contained the claim.

A UK government spokesperson said: "We have previously acknowledged this phrasing and took immediate steps to ensure it was not replicated."

Downing Street said it had nothing to add. The authority said steps taken by the Wales Office and the MoD should reduce the risk of the claim being made again in future.

Sir Keir resigned from Downing Street in July, when he was succeeded by Andy Burnham.

In March Sir Keir told the House of Commons liaison committee: "We have already committed to 2.5% in 2027, and we will hit that. That means that, in this Parliament, we will spend £270bn more on defence than we would otherwise have done."

Similar claims were made by an MoD spokesman in June, and by the Wales Office X account, which said on 3 June: "The UK government is increasing defence spending by £270bn over this Parliament to strengthen our national security."

BBC Wales was told that the figure originated in the MoD, rather than the Wales Office, which was led by the then-Welsh secretary Jo Stevens at the time.

The Wales Office, which is a part of the UK government, oversees the system of devolution and aims to be a voice for Wales within Westminster.

In a letter to Tory shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge, UK Statistics Authority's interim chair, Penny Young, said: "We agree that it is incorrect and misleading to describe the £270bn as an increase in defence spending over the course of this Parliament, or to describe it as an extra £270bn.

"The £270bn represents the proposed overall spending on defence over the lifetime of the current Parliament, from 2025-26 to 2028-29."

According to the letter, the Wales Office told the authority the figure used "was a mistake and was amended as soon as it was noticed".

"In addition, Wales Office has told us it has reviewed its press office lines in relation to this topic, and its quality assurance process for press lines, to ensure that this mistake is not replicated elsewhere," Young said.

She added: "The MoD has taken steps to ensure that future communications use precise and consistent language when presenting defence spending figures."

Conservative Shadow Wales Secretary Mims Davies MP said: "At a time of growing global instability, the public deserves honesty and transparency about our defence budget.

"Labour ministers and civil servants in the Wales should be setting out the facts, not presenting figures in a way that risks misleading people."