John Healey, Shadow Defence Secretary, insists that a Labour government would increase defence spending by 2.5% of GDO, saying that he is "totally committed to raising it." He says that Labour will complete a defence review within the first year of government, if elected. Report by Covellm. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00We have to increase defence spending. We will increase it to 2.5% of GDP.
00:05And the last time Britain was spending 2.5% on defence was in 2010 with Labour.
00:10And back then, the British Army was over 100,000 full-time soldiers.
00:15Morale was at 60%. And since then, morale has slumped.
00:19The army's been cut to the smallest size since Napoleon.
00:23So there is a big job to rebuild the strength of the British forces,
00:29as well as to respect the service of those who do serve.
00:32And that's the purpose of today's Armed Forces Day.
00:35We are totally committed to raising it to 2.5% of GDP.
00:40We'll do that alongside a defence review within the first year of government.
00:45And that's the way that we get to grips with the threats we face,
00:48the capabilities we need, the true state of the armed forces,
00:52as well as the money available when we open the books.
00:55That's the way, if you like, we balance both the
00:57requirements for stronger national security
01:00and the responsibility for sound public finances.