UK Cuts Road Building Budget to Boost Military Spending

The United Kingdom will reduce spending on road construction and several other public projects to increase its military budget, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Tuesday. “A number of capital projects, for example in the roads and energy sectors - important but not urgent - will no longer proceed as planned,” Starmer told a press conference on the launch of a long-term defence spending plan. He stressed that such “difficult decisions” and austerity measures were necessary to guarantee national defence without resorting to borrowing. “Defence bonds are essentially borrowing by another name… But the fact is, doing it through borrowing would push up interest rates,” he added. Starmer said the UK would increase its military budget by 27 per cent to £80 billion per year by 2029. The kingdom will invest more than £5 billion in drone technology and autonomous weapons, in what the prime minister called the country’s largest ever investment in this technology. The funds will also be allocated to create a ‘hybrid Royal Navy’ utilising maritime and underwater drones and artificial intelligence. Starmer also announced the deployment of next-generation Typhoon fighter jets flying alongside drones to evade enemy detection, combat drones operating with Apache helicopters, a new fleet of surveillance drones, and an increase in the number of loitering munitions. The UK will also invest in long-range missiles, armoured vehicles, and anti-drone systems.