General election: Keir Starmer says ‘new age of insecurity has begun’ in speech on defence and security – UK politics live

General election: Keir Starmer says ‘new age of insecurity has begun’ in speech on defence and security – UK politics live

Labour leader says ‘postwar era is over’ as he says he never expected to see ‘the rumble of war’ in Europe and says cybersecurity warfare is a threat

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Keir Starmer will be speaking shortly on defence and security. The Labour leader is expected to reaffirm his commitment to a “triple lock” for the UK’s nuclear deterrent, and his aim to raise defence spending to 2.5% of gross domestic product “as soon as resources allow”.

Labour’s nuclear deterrent triple lock includes a commitment to construct four new nuclear submarines in Barrow-in-Furness, maintaining Britain’s continuous at-sea deterrent, and the delivery of all future upgrades needed for the submarines to patrol the waters.

It’s certainly true that since the botched Brexit deal was put in place, many of our businesses – exporters of food, fish, agricultural products in particular – have really struggled with the additional paperwork.

What Labour has set out is our ambition to have a veterinary agreement with the EU. That’s an agreement that New Zealand has with the EU, that removes the paperwork on food and drink exports. That would make a substantial difference to fishers and farmers right across the UK

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