Budget's lack of new defence spending dismays insiders and Tory MPs

Malcolm Chalmers, deputy director general of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) thinktank, said... "the fact is that now, after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, many European countries are increasing their defence budgets rapidly, including Germany, the Scandinavian countries, the exposed eastern countries and quite a number of others as well... the UK government seems to have decided, given the wider fiscal squeeze and the priority being given to tax cuts, that there will be no more money for defence in this budget."