New defence secretary wins another £1.5bn to boost drone spending

The defence secretary, Dan Jarvis, bypassed Keir Starmer to get the Treasury to agree to more funding. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA View image in fullscreen The defence secretary, Dan Jarvis, bypassed Keir Starmer to get the Treasury to agree to more funding. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA New defence secretary wins another £1.5bn to boost drone spending Dan Jarvis persuaded Rachel Reeves to reduce £18bn funding gap that led to predecessor resigning The new defence secretary has secured an extra £1.5bn to the UK’s long-delayed defence investment plan, with the bulk of that to be spent on drones to deter Russia and Iran. Rows about closing an £18bn funding gap had led to the resignation of John Healey and raised questions about Britain’s commitments to Nato – though on Monday the head of the alliance told the Guardian he believed the UK would honour its commitments. Two sources said the deficit had been reduced by £15bn after Dan Jarvis successfully persuaded the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, to give the Ministry of Defence a little more than the £13.5bn promised to his predecessor, who quit in protest at the package . The cash has allowed Jarvis to increase an already promised £4bn spend on drones to £5bn over the next four years, as part of a deal that Keir Starmer was desperate to conclude before leaving office. Officials will lobby Burnham to revive ‘war bonds’ idea to pay for higher defence spending Read more Some of the extra money for defence had been found by asking other government departments to take a cut of at least 1% from their capital budgets in one of the most acrimonious Whitehall rows in recent memory. Allies of Jarvis said he wanted to “look people in the eye” when the plan was published – while those close to Reeves said she had found him easier to deal with than Healey, who had become frustrated in his final weeks as defence secretary. Trio of senior defence figures accuse Starmer of underfunding military Read more One person close to the chancellor added that unlike Healey, Jarvis has negotiated directly with Reeves rather than going through the prime minister, which has made it easier to come to an agreement. A week ago, Jarvis had secured an extra £1bn and was seeking more in a final round of negotiating. Healey has taken a close interest in developments since his departure and is expected to speak in the Commons on Tuesday as the 80-page document, covering dozens of defence projects from frigates to nuclear submarines, is presented to MPs. Royal Marine commandos will be supplied with additional uncrewed speedboats, made by Kraken Technology, from Fareham in Hampshire, in one of the extra commitments secured by Jarvis from the Treasury. They will be deployed as part of a peacekeeping mission in the strait of Hormuz to help detect hostile incoming drones, military sources said, should a durable peace agreement be reached between the US and Iran. Starmer will unveil the plan at a defence firm on Tuesday morning, justifying it as