Rachel Reeves was today accused of resisting pleas to pour billions into Britain’s Armed Forces because of their poor record on gender equality.
Amid an increasingly bitter Labour briefing war over demands for a defence spending increase the Chancellor was said to have told MoD chiefs asking for money to do more to employ women.
Ms Reeves is said to be resisting overtures to fill a £28billion black hole in the defence Budget, insisting she will only sign off a £10billion increase, following a demand for £3.5billion savings she wants military chiefs to make this year.
It came amid fears that Labour’s Defence Investment Plan (DIP) blueprint could be delayed until the summer, making it almost a year late amid the row over how to fund it.
This morning Health Secretary Wes Streeting signalled his support for increasing defence spending, at the same time saying the welfare bill had to be ‘reduced’.
But other frontbenchers have said that the benefits system should not be used, suggesting that an unpopular digital ID scheme be scrapped instead, along with some Net Zero policies.
In funding discussions with the MoD Ms Reeves she is said to have raised its poor record of ‘gender parity’.
The claim was described as ‘b*****ks’ by a Treasury source today, after the PM’s spokesman twice declined to say it was untrue.
The government’s own statistics show that the MoD’s gender pay gap – showing the difference in average pay between male and female employees – was lower than the Treasury’s last year.
Tory opposition leader Kemi Badenoch said: ‘If [Rachel] Reeves isn’t funding our armed forces because 50 per cent of them aren’t female, she is unfit for government.
‘This is a new low.’
Sir Keir was accused of performing ‘an act of national suicide’ by handing the Treasury control of DIP after Labour figures lined up to demand more cash.
It was due to be published last autumn, but may not now appear before the summer despite growing pressure from across the political spectrum.
According to the Spectator, Ms Reeves asked military officials: ‘Why should we give money to a department that’s so far away from gender parity?’
Sir Keir’s spokesman refuses to comment on the ‘speculation’, telling reporters: ‘Our focus is on finalising the Defence Investment Plan and we are working on that as we speak.’
Service chiefs were grilled by MPs on this very subject this week.
General Sir Gwyn Jenkins, the first sea lord, told the Defence Committee on Tuesday that 16 per cent of Naval recruits were now women and it was also improving its retention rates.
Meanwhile army chief General Sir Roly Walker said 11.7 per cent of soldiers were now women, though he said that was still too low.
Britain’s first female chancellor has made no secret of her feminist views since entering No11.
Months after the 2024 election she ordered the removal of all pictures of men from the lavish state room.
The Chancellor announced that every painting in the room would be replaced by artworks of or by women in order to celebrate ‘amazing women who have gone before us’.
In November last year, before her second Budget, she hit out at people ‘mansplaining’ how she should do her job.
It came as a new poll suggested more than two-thirds (69 per cent) of Brits think the country is poorly prepared for a major conflict.
But the YouGov survey found voters are divided on whether to put more cash into defence.
Some 39 per cent of Brits said a defence spending boost was more important even if it meant cuts to public services, but 31 per cent said public services were more important.
The latter view was held by 60 per cent of supporters of Zack Polanski’s Green Party.
Starmer is said to have been told that he cannot release the plan before the May 7 local elections due to civil service impartiality rules.
That means that while it could come ion the narrow window between the election and the State Opening of Parliament later the same month, it is more likely to come in June at the earliest.
One source told the Times it could take even longer, raising fears that it might not appear before parliament’s summer break starts in July.
Three former defence secretaries have gone public with calls for the spending plan to be revealed as soon as possible, with money diverted from the welfare bill to pay for it.
Unite union leader Sharon Graham also weighed in last night, saying the delay was a ‘threat to national security’ – though she said the money should come from a wealth tax.
Sources were damning to the Spectator about the political impasse in Downing Street over funding, with new Cabinet Secretary Antonia Romeo failing to get the Treasury to have a rethink.
