Keir Starmer savaged as bombshell report finally released

Keir Starmer will lay out his plan to modernise the armed forces, nine months after it was due to be completed, and after two of his ministers resigned in protest over it not being good enough. The outgoing Prime Minister was panned by critics for releasing the plan, which falls nearly £13.5billion under what officials had been asking for.

Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge MP said it was "too little, too late" and warned it was not "worth the paper it's written on" as he warned the outgoing Prime Minister was in charge "in name only". He repeated his call for the next Prime Minister, who is widely expected to be Andy Burnham, to "cut welfare and give our armed forces the funding they need to keep Britain safe."

Mr Burnham has left open the possibility that it could revisit the Dip, should he either win a contest or be anointed as Labour leader and the next prime minister.

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The long-awaited and delayed Defence Investment Plan is due to be published, as critics pan the release for not giving the armed forces what they need.

Nearly 10 months behind schedule, the plan was initially held back amid wrangling within the Government over the amount of cash needed to fund the military.

A long-running dispute around the Cabinet table ended in the resignation of former defence secretary John Healey, who quit in protest at a lack of funding.

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