‘They’ve got some nerve!’ Top Tory furiously slams Labour for ‘prioritising welfare spending over defence’

Marcus Donaldson
Sun, 12 Apr 2026 12:07:53 +0000

James Cartlidge has slammed the Labour Government for “prioritising welfare spending over defence spending”.

The Conservative Shadow Defence Secretary launched the blistering attack while speaking with GB News’s Camilla Tominey.

Central to Mr Cartlidge’s argument was the long-delayed defence investment plan, which the Defence Secretary has admitted that the details are taking time to be “properly worked through”.

However, Mr Cartlidge accused: “They want to save money by delaying the defence investment plan.”

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“The reason they've delayed it is that they've chosen to prioritise welfare spending instead of defence, and they haven't got the money to implement the plan.

“There's a massive row between Treasury and the Ministry of Defence, and it's all paralysed,” the top Tory claimed.

Keir Starmer has recently called on the UK to “go faster” on defence and become more self-reliant, reaffirming commitments to raise spending to at least 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2027.

However, Mr Cartlidge argued: “The government don't have a plan for defence while there's war on two fronts.

“The striking thing is this last Monday we had all the tax and benefit changes, with the two-child benefit cap removed, resulting in billions of extra spending on benefits.

He questioned furiously: “Where's the extra extra spending on defence? We know where it's gone.

“I think that the hard thing is we've now got to make those tough choices,” the Shadow Defence Secretary added.

However, Camilla reflected comments made by Wes Streeting to The People’s Channel earlier, who accused the Conservatives of underinvesting and procuring incorrectly for 14 years.

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“He's got a nerve,” Mr Cartlidge shot back.

For example, the top Tory addresses the lack of Type 45 destroyers in the British fleet, highlighted by the glacial deployment of HMS Dragon to Cyprus last month.

“It was Labour who were going to order 12 and cut the order to six.

“Look at the impact that has had,” he warned, adding that: “All of the things you could order are getting more expensive because the whole world is trying to rearm.”

Nevertheless, the Shadow Defence Secretary admitted that defence spending fell under the Conservatives’ watch.

“Obviously, in hindsight, one can say, well, I wish it were higher, but there's nothing I can do to change that.

“What we can do is to affect the debate right now. And I think everybody knows defence spending needs to go up.

Mr Cartlidge stated: “The big question, as always, and it's the same one that dominates politics: Where is the money going to come from?”