In recent days, we’ve seen people claiming again that the government is spending “an extra £270 billion” on defence over this parliament.

The claim has appeared in some news outlets, where it was attributed to a government spokesperson.

But this isn’t right.

As we explained earlier this year after seeing the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer say something similar, £270 billion was roughly the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) total projected spend for the years 2025/26 to 2028/29. It doesn’t represent the combined extra spending over this period.

Join 74,000 newsletter subscribers who trust us to check the facts

Sign up to get weekly updates on politics, immigration, health and more.

Subscribe to weekly email newsletters from Full Fact for updates on politics, immigration, health and more. Our fact checks are free to read but not to produce, so you will also get occasional emails about fundraising and other ways you can help. You can unsubscribe at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy.

Defence minister Luke Pollard confirmed this in February, when he said £270 billion “is the total of the Ministry of Defence’s budget from financial year 2025/26 to 2028/29”. Adding together the MoD’s planned spends, as outlined in last year’s Spending Review, for each of these years gives a figure of £272.2 billion.

It’s worth noting that on 30 June 2026 Mr Starmer announced a £15 billion increase to defence spending over the next four years (up to 2029/30). £11 billion of this £15 billion is the new increase in spending between 2026/27 and 2028/29, so this raises the original figure of £270 billion.

We’ve asked both Number 10 and the MoD about this claim and will update this article if we receive a response.

Full Fact fights for good, reliable information in the media, online, and in politics.