ABOUT TIME TOO! CIVIL SERVICE JOB CUTS TO PAY FOR DEFENCE BOOST

RISHI Sunak will axe 70,000 civil servant jobs and free up billions of pounds to boost Britain's defence.

- Steph Spyro and Sam Lister

The Prime Minister was praised yesterday for his tough stance as he warned the world is at its "most dangerous" point since the end of the Cold War.

He vowed to pump an extra £75billion into the defence budget and will fund the pledge to spend 2.5% of national income on defence by 2030 without raising borrowing or debt.

The PM said: "We will put the UK's defence industry on a war footing."

Around £3billion will be found by returning the civil service to pre-pandemic staffing levels by the end of the decade. Extra staff were brought in to deliver Brexit and deal with the Covid crisis, but levels will be cut by 70,000.

Senior Tories last night welcomed the plan to spend more cash on the military instead of Whitehall.

Former Defence Secretary Liam Fox said: "The Prime Minister will increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2030 - an additional £75billion over the next six years.

"This is a truly Conservative commitment, underpinned by Conservative economic values - with a clear plan for what will be spent, when it will be spent and how it will be paid for.

"The number of civil servants soared to deal with the pandemic the PM is right to get that headcount down to pre-2020 levels so we can channel that money into defence."

Ex-Cabinet minister Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg said: "That seems excellent policy making, redistributing wasted expenditure to the security of the nation."

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