Commit to 3% defence spend sooner, warns ex-British Army chiefpublished at 09:49 British Summer Time

09:49 BST

Lord Dannatt looks to camera during an interview - he appears to be speaking from his home

During that interview earlier, we heard the BBC’s Nick Robinson ask Keir Starmer about his commitment to increase defence spending to 3% of GDP, and we also heard the PM avoid giving a precise date for when that may happen.

The government previously set out an ambition – but not a firm commitment – to reach defence spending of 3% in the next Parliament, so by 2034.

But Lord Dannatt, former head of the British Army, says this should come forward to be at the end of this Parliament – due to end in 2029.

“If we’d said to Hitler in 1938, ‘hang on, don’t attack us until 1946’, well that would have been daft.”

If the government believes there is a genuine threat now, he says – adding some military experts say there is a possibility Europe could come under attack from Russia in two to four years time – then the UK has to use this time to “rapidly” increase the capability of the armed forces.