The PM says supporting Ukraine is the "right" and "just" thing to do, and that the outcome of the war will "shape our lives for decades to come".

If Russia is to win, Starmer says, Putin "would not stop there, but turn his gaze to other allies".

He says Ukraine is "holding strong", increasingly pushing Russia back, and says this is the moment to "ramp up the pressure" by continuing to back Ukraine.

He says the government's defence investment plan will maintain the UK's support for Ukraine in full.

Image source, Reuters

Starmer says the defence investment plan will allow the UK to strengthen its international leadership and "build a more European Nato".

This is not to the exclusion of the US but to strengthen the transatlantic alliance "which keeps our country safe", he adds.

Starmer says the UK is already developing precision strike weapons with Germany, building frigates with Norway to hunt Russian submarines, but will go further will the defence investment plan.

He also announces there will be a £8.6bn investment in building fighter jets under a programme with Italy and Japan that will "secure our skies for decades to come".

The UK will also bring its investment in renewing the nuclear deterrent to £64bn, Starmer adds.

Starmer says defence spending plans will enhance the economy, by creating "almost 60,000 jobs".

The motto is to "back British", he says.

He says they will bring start-ups into the defence supply chain, which "pays off in every region and every community".

"The fact is defence jobs are different. They are high skilled, well paid. They offer career paths, training and a greater sense of meaning," Starmer says.

He announces they will be creating a new "£50bn defence export facility", which Starmer describes as a "once in a generation boost".

Starmer says the defence investment plan will deliver change for Britain in three primary ways.

He says the plan will "make the British people safer" by reversing the cuts of recent years and rebuilding ammunition stockpiles, ensuring the UK is "better prepared to win".

The plan will also "drive a generational transformation of our armed forces," Starmer says, adding that the military will be modernised off the back of lessons learned in Ukraine.

The prime minister confirms that more than £5bn will be invested into drone technology - "the largest ever UK investement in this technology".

He also says the UK will build a "hybrid navy," meaning that when British frigates move to intercept a threat to British interests, like a Russian ship, "they will do so with outriders, uncrewed ships above and below the surface".

Starmer says this will be joined by the next generation of the RAF, highlighting Typhoons flying with autonomous wingmen, making them "invisible" to enemy detection.

He goes on to say that the Army will be "10 times more lethal", highlighting further investment in one-way attack drones, long-range missiles, armoured vehicles, and counter drone defence systems.

Starmer says the government is already delivering the "biggest sustained increase" in defence spending since the 1980s.

He then announces that under the defence investment plan, the government is increasing defence funding "by a further £15bn, setting a new record".

He says the previous government spent £54bn on defence per year before his government took office, which he says is being increased to "almost £80bn" per year by 2029.

"That is a real terms increase of 27%," he says.

Starmer says at last year's Nato summit he committed to spending 5% of GDP on "wider security", which also includes energy security and critical infrastructure, and says the DIP "takes us to 4.2% under that commitment".

He says that in the past military spending has been seen as a "bottomless pit", and adds "this time must be different, we can't just spend more we have to spend better".

Image source, PA Media

Starmer says that increasing defence spending through borrowing would push interest rates higher.

"Defence bonds are just borrowing by another name," he says.

He adds the government has fought hard to bring public finances "under control" and should not "sacrifice that now".

Starmer says strong public finances are a "fundamental part" of the UK's strength, and the nation will be poorer and less secure if it loses control of them. Slash funding for public services in favour of defence "and we would be fundamentally weaker as a nation", he says.

He says there are "no easy answers" but the defence investment plan is the "right choice for the country".

The PM goes on to say that some road and energy projects that are not "immediately vital" would be scrapped to pay for increased defence spending.

The plan is funded by "reallocating spending from across government departments, reallocating capital budgets by one penny in every pound, while still maintaining public investment at the highest sustained levels since the 1970s", he adds.

The defence investment plan "delivers on last year's review", Starmer says.

In a rapidly changing world, it goes "further", he adds.

Starmer thanks the defence secretary, chiefs of defence and chancellor for their work to "sharpen and strengthen the plan in recent weeks".

"So we can set out today how we can transform our armed services," the prime minister says.

He continues and says the plan "represents our best judgement of what the country needs to meet this moment, and it is a platform on which I know my successor will build".

Starmer adds this plan is "costed" by examining the defence budget "line by line".

Starmer says the "very nature of conflict is changing before our eyes", before referencing the war in Ukraine.

He says that despite having limited resources, Ukraine has managed to destroy the Black Sea fleet, strike deep into Russia and stop its army from advancing.

Starmer says Ukraine has done that not only through "sheer courage", but also by embracing technology.

"Innovating at speed and scale is more important than ever," he says, adding that AI will "accelerate that further".

In that context, he says, Nato remains "more important than ever," adding that in order to sustain the alliance, European nations must take "more primary responsibility for their own defence".

Starmer says his government has "reversed at last the corrosive hollowing out of our armed forces" and says the UK's defence programme has been "underfunded and unsuited" to the threats faced for too long.

The prime minister says these changes are being made not because the UK wants war, but to avoid it.

Image source, Reuters

Prime Minister Keir Starmer starts by thanking "all of those that serve our country".

He says he meets people from all walks of life as PM, and says he knows how worried they are "about the state of the world".

"They're feeling tired at being at the mercy of events beyond our shores," Starmer says.

He says the human toll of international conflicts cuts across the UK's "values of justice" and the "simple British impulse that bullies and dictators cannot be allowed to push people around".

He adds that these threats "are not remote", but that foreign states are also targeting the UK.

Image source, Reuters

Reeves continues her speech by paying tribute to Starmer.

She says the UK's defence has been a "defining pillar" of his leadership and his "moral clarity" against the threats the country faces will be part of his legacy.

Reeves calls Starmer her "friend" before introducing him to the stage.

After the defence secretary, Chancellor Rachel Reeves takes to the stage.

She says when she was shadow chancellor, she "wrote and spoke about the importance of security and resilience for economic growth", an approach she calls: "securinomics".

It's something she says has become more "valid" in her time as chancellor.

Reeves goes on to claim she has overseen the biggest uplift in defence spending "since the Cold War".

Reeves says there will be a further uplift today, "an additional £15bn worth of funding by again reprioritising spending across government".

She says "defence and readiness for now are not remote contingencies", instead being "an immediate and pressing requirement".

"By defending ourselves we defend our allies and values," she says.

Jarvis says he knows life in the armed forces isn't always easy, acknowledging there is "some way to go to improve service life", but says they have awarded three above-inflation pay rises, extended free childcare and improved military homes.

"Our personnel are today better supported and through this defence investment plan, we will make them better prepared," Jarvis continues.

He says the plan recognises the "hard truth" that the conflict in Ukraine "completely upended the way of war," saying that the plan invests a record amount in drone warfare, as well as more money for a hybrid navy and for the Royal Air Force.

Jarvis says it "reflects the realities of warfare" and commits to strengthening the UK's nuclear deterrent and continue supporting Nato.

He ends by reiterating that people remain the Army's "most important asset", adding: "This defence investment plan is for them."

Image source, Reuters

Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis is first up to speak, he says there has been no "shortage of column inches or speculation" about the defence investment plan.

"But we shouldn't lose sight of what the defence investment plan is truly about, the measure of our security is the strength of those who defend it," he says.

He says the central purpose of the plan is to "get the kit and technology" the armed forces need now and for the "years ahead".

He adds that credit goes to Prime Minister Keir Starmer for getting the plan to where it is today.

"Under his leadership, Britain has proved itself a reliable partner and a trusted ally."

We're expecting to hear from Prime Minister Keir Starmer imminently as he makes a speech on the defence investment plan due to be released today.

We're also expecting to hear from Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis and Chancellor Rachel Reeves before the PM speaks.

We'll have updates throughout - and you can watch live at the top of the page.

Image source, PA Media

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has criticised the defence investment plan as being insufficient and "barely half what the armed forces say is needed".

Writing on social media, Badenoch says Keir Starmer is "underfunding our military in his search for a ‘legacy’".

She also questions if Andy Burnham, expected to be the next prime minister, "has signed off on this", adding that if he has, "then he too is culpable of putting our service personnel at risk with this weak plan".

Badenoch goes on to say: "We need to cut benefits to fund our armed forces."

For context: Some of the details from the defence investment plan have been released by the government, but the full document will be published later today.

Three key tests for the defence investment planpublished at 10:13 BST

10:13 BST

Frank Gardner
Security correspondent

Image source, PA Media

There are several tests that need to be applied to the defence investment plan once it is revealed in full today.

Does it meet Britain’s Nato commitments?

Britain, as a leading member of the transatlantic alliance, has joined other members in committing to raising defence spending to 3.5% of GDP by 2035.

Former Defence Secretary Ben Wallace says that is too late, that the threat from Russia is much more imminent.

Is it fit for the fast-changing pace of warfare?

Drones have transformed the way wars have been fought in Ukraine, Iran and the Caucasus.

The MoD has been accused of being slow to learn the lessons from those conflicts. But the refocussing of the defence investment plan towards drones and autonomous systems has gone some way to address this.

Is it enough money?

No, say military experts.

The full details have yet to be revealed but it is unlikely to be anywhere near the £28bn demanded by the departed Defence Secretary John Healey who resigned in protest at the insufficient funding.

Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent

The simple answer is we don’t know. But the political reality is that he will have to tell us soon enough.

There will be intense criticism from the government’s political opponents - as well as some Labour MPs - over the course of the day about the amount of money the government is committing.

The question of whether extra money should be spent, and if so how that extra money could be generated, will be a question for Burnham to address in less than three weeks.

If no other Labour MP makes a leadership bid, Burnham is expected to become prime minister on 20 July.

How does defence compare with other government spending?published at 10:03 BST

10:03 BST

By Anthony Reuben

This chart breaks down areas of government activity the Treasury was planning to spend money on in the 12 months from April this year.

The largest category is what the Treasury calls “social protection” which covers things like the state pension and working-age benefits. More than £150bn of that £400bn is expected to be spent on the state pension, external.

If you add health spending on to social protection you have already covered about half of what the government is expected to spend.

Next comes education at £145bn, and then debt interest payments of £135bn on the money the government borrows.

Then comes defence spending at £90bn. This is a higher number than the prime minister was referring to when he talked about raising the MoD's budget to £80bn by 2029.

It includes things that the MoD has little control over, such as equipment wearing out and provisions for the future cost of nuclear decommissioning.

Update 16:30 - This post has been updated to clarify that the £90bn figure for defence includes other expenditure in addition to the MoD's core budget

Tom Redman, CEO of British-based drone supplier Evolve Dynamics, says £5bn being invested in the use of drones is "really welcome".

Redman, whose company supplies drones to the British and Ukrainian armies, tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Any modern Nato nation is now modernising their militaries with uncrewed systems, with autonomy at the heart of it."

Asked if the UK is self-sufficient, Redman says "buying drones is not the same thing as building a sovereign, resilient drone industry".

He adds it's "very different" purchasing from overseas manufacturers than "having the ability to produce that capability at scale" in the UK.

Using Ukraine as an example, he says millions of drones are being made and used by the country every year - and the UK is providing about 150,000, external.

"In terms of what we can produce, we are nowhere near that scale. And in a wartime scenario, it's going to be the industry that underpins these uncrewed systems that really wins," he says.

A commander in the Ukrainian army says drones have "dramatically" changed the battlefield since the start of the war against Russia in 2022.

The drone unit commander, who uses the call sign Neo to hide his identity, told Radio 4's Today programme that drones have made it easier for Ukraine "to match Russia" and were its "saviour".

"Technological advantage was the only chance for us. Russia is now in a very bad position and things are getting worse for Russia and a majority of it comes from the drones."

He says drones are a "much cheaper weapon" and more accurate than other missiles.

As we reported earlier, today's defence investment plan will include more than £5bn to be spent on drones over the next four years.

Image source, Reuters