Defence & Veterans

Danny and the Liberal Democrats are fighting to keep Britain safe.

Keeping our country secure should be the first priority of any government. We must always take defence seriously – and work with allies to protect all our freedoms.

Liberal Democrats will strengthen our Armed Forces and support the people who work in them, and keep the UK free, safe and secure by:

• Reversing the Conservative Government’s cut to the Army, increasing regular troop numbers back to over 100,000.
• Hold cross-party talks to agree a consensus on how to reach 3% of GDP spent on defence by 2030, and outline a roadmap for how to get there.
• Rapidly implement a £20 billion ‘Defence Bonds’ programme, enabling members of the public and institutional investors to support the UK’s defence, inject much-needed finance into bolstering the UK’s security, and stimulate the economy through investment in defence-related research and development.
• Maintaining the UK’s nuclear deterrent with four submarines providing continuous at-sea deterrence, while pursuing multilateral global disarmament.
• Controlling arms exports to countries with poor human rights records.
• Commit to working in unison with the UK’s European and Commonwealth partners to ensure President Trump backs down in any future attempts to threaten NATO allies, reassert his claims to other countries’ sovereign territory, or bully America’s trading partners with new tariffs.
• A fair deal for our veterans and military personnel. Danny wants to see improvements to military housing and compensation and a new commission to ensure that our service men and women and veterans are no longer taken for granted.