Three Conservative pledges that take us back to 2010

FactCheck spoke to Professor Malcolm Chalmers, deputy director general of the independent think-tank, the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies (RUSI). He explained the core defence budget fell by 8.5 per cent in real terms in the first years of the Conservative-Lib Dem government, but rose again in the years after. It’s “due to increase by 7.0 per cent between 2015-16 and 2020-21”. However, Professor Chalmers points out that “by next year, real spending will be 2.1 per cent below the level at the start of the decade.”