Rewrite the following news content into a professional, SEO-optimized article. Instructions: Keep the meaning exactly the same. Do not add false information. Remove any unwanted text, metadata, or comments at the beginning. Write in clear, engaging, and human-like news tone. Use short paragraphs (2–4 lines each). Add proper headings (H2/H3) where relevant. Ensure good readability and flow. Use simple English (Grade 6–8 level). Avoid repetition and fluff. Format properly for a blog/news post. Content: Starmer challenged over defence investment plan delay. 33 minutes ago. Paul SeddonPolitical reporter. Getty Image. Sir Keir Starmer has failed to say when the government’s military funding plan will be published, amid an escalating row over UK defence spending.. The prime minister is facing growing pressure to set out when the much-delayed blueprint will appear, as talks with the Treasury continue.. It comes after the Labour peer who carried out a review of defence capability last year launched a scathing public attack on the hold-up.. Former defence secretary and Nato chief Lord Robertson accused the government of “corrosive complacency” amid rising threats around the world.. Former Nato chief warns UK’s national security ‘in peril’. UK facing £28bn defence spending gap claims. Ministers have not denied reports that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has requested billions in further funding to buy equipment following an internal assessment by officials at the department last year.. It came in the wake of Lord Robertson’s review in June, setting out plans for extra ammunition, next-generation fast jets, drones, and new attack submarines to upgrade Britain’s war-fighting capabilities.. Negotiations with the Treasury over funding this have held up the publication of a 10-year defence investment plan, which was originally due in autumn last year.. At Prime Minister’s Questions, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch pushed Sir Keir to publish the plan before the current session of Parliament ends in the coming weeks.. The prime minister replied that it would be published “as soon as possible” but declined to offer a specific date.. He hit back at Lord Robertson’s criticism, adding he did not agree with his comments and adding that Labour had increased defence funding, including by making the “difficult decision” to cut spending on overseas aid last year.. ‘Further damage’. Sir Keir also said his party had inherited “uncosted and undeliverable” investment plans from the Conservatives, pointing to cuts to Navy frigates and minehunters under the party’s watch.. In reply, Badenoch accused the prime minister of “prosecuting past governments” rather than reassuring defence companies of “what he is going to do”.. In a subsequent statement in Parliament, Defence Minister Luke Pollard insisted the government was “not waiting” on the investment plan to announce further defence projects, but was “working flat out to” get the document published.. But he faced pressure from Labour MP Tan Dhesi, who chairs the defence select committee, who warned that further delay to the plan risked “further damage to our defence-industrial base”.. The MoD’s budget is due to rise by 3.6% in real terms by 2029, under departmental spending plans fixed last year.. The investment plan is meant to replace decade-long “equipment plans” released on a rolling yearly basis until 2022, when the then-Conservative government halted publication whilst it assessed the effect of “extraordinary inflati
