Rachel Reeves plans to spend extra £3bn on defence in desperate bid to fix Army

Chancellor Rachel Reeves will boost defence spending by £3billion because of concerns about the armed forces' readiness for war.

She is set to confirm this at the despatch box in the Commons tomorrow during Labour's first budget in 15 years but will stop short of committing herself to a timeline for hitting the defence spending target of 2.5% of GDP.

Some of the extra cash is expected to be used to cover the £400million a year cost of giving soldiers a 6% pay rise backdated to April.

John Healey, the defence secretary, said earlier this month that Britain was not ready to fight a war because the military was so depleted.

He said: "The UK, in keeping with many other nations, has essentially become very skilled and ready to conduct military operations. What we've not been ready to do is to fight. Unless we are ready to fight we are not in shape to deter."

MPs warned in March that the UK will be left increasingly reliant on military allies because of a £29bn financial black hole in defence spending, MPs have warned.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) warned the government currently lacked a "credible plan" to fund the Ministry of Defence.

The PAC said this "undermined" the credibility of Britain's armed forces.

Sir Keir Starmer has said that Labour wants to increase defence spending from 2.3% to 2.5% of GDP but has not set a date to achieve this.

The prime minister is expected to wait for the outcome of the defence review, which is expected next June