I have a duty to stay on, says PM as he justifies defence spending

Sir Keir Starmer has told the BBC he has a "duty" to stay on as prime minister as he sought to justify his decisions on defence spending.

Speaking the day after two of his defence ministers quit in a row over funding, Sir Keir insisted he had made "hard-edged" choices, including getting every department to make cuts to pay for defence.

In a veiled warning to potential leadership challengers in his own party, he said "whoever is prime minister is going to face the same prevailing winds as I am facing, none of that is going to change."

Asked if he wanted to lead Labour into the next election, he said: "That's what I want to do" but acknowledged: "I need to turn things around."

He said he did not want to "plunge" the country into the "chaos" of a leadership election but added: "If it does happen, I will fight."

"Let me be clear that this is not about personal vanity, it is not about stubbornness, it is about a very deep sense of duty," he said.

"I was elected to serve this country notwithstanding difficult circumstances - that is what I am doing."

He added that he had a "very sound platform" and that his government had stabilised the economy, increased defence spending and invested in public services.

In his resignation letter, Defence Secretary John Healey made scathing criticisms, accusing the PM of being "unable" to commit to the spending needed to keep the country safe.

Sir Keir said he was grateful to Healey for his work but rejected his analysis, arguing that defence spending was his "number one priority" and would continue to be so at future spending reviews.

He pointed to cuts to overseas aid as evidence that he was able to make difficult decisions to increase spending on defence.

Asked if he would be willing to reduce spending on welfare to pay for a further boost, Sir Keir said the government was making changes to help people into work and said that would "free up resources".

Healey's resignation was triggered by an ongoing internal row over funding of the government's defence investment plan (DIP).

The plan, which sets out how new military equipment and infrastructure will be paid for over the next decade, was due last autumn but has been repeatedly delayed.

The government has committed to increasing defence spending to 3.5% of GDP by 2035.

Healey suggested that the current defence investment plan proposed increasing defence spending to 2.68% of national income by 2030. He argued that the UK should be hitting 3% by that date.