Now even Wes Streeting is piling pressure on Reeves to cut welfare spending and boost defence

By JASON GROVES, POLITICAL EDITOR and DAVID WILCOCK, DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR Published: 23:06, 16 April 2026 | Updated: 23:07, 16 April 2026 Wes Streeting has piled pressure on Rachel Reeves to cut welfare spending to boost defence. In the first sign of open Cabinet dissent over the defence emergency, the Health Secretary on Thursday appeared to suggest benefits could be curbed, saying the money for the Armed Forces has ‘got to come from somewhere’. But, Mr Streeting stopped just short of breaching the cabinet’s collective responsibility rules. Asked if he would support diverting funds from welfare to the Armed Forces, Mr Streeting told LBC: ‘Well, yeah. We want to reduce the welfare budget...’ He added: ‘We have been putting more money into defence as a government, but we will need more.  'That is the reality of the challenge of the world that we face.’  Asked if the money should come from the welfare budget, he replied: ‘Well it’s got to come from somewhere.’ The row came as the Treasury was forced to deny explosive claims the Chancellor is blocking increased funding for defence because of the Armed Forces’ poor record on ‘gender parity’. In the first sign of open Cabinet dissent over the defence emergency, Health Secretary Wes Streeting (pictured) appeared to suggest benefits could be curbed, saying the money for the Armed Forces has 'got to come from somewhere' British Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves arrives at G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting in Washington on April 16 Your browser does not support iframes. Aides to the Chancellor intervened after Downing Street failed to dispute reports her woke views are the source of the damaging Whitehall deadlock over defence spending.  Kemi Badenoch described the alleged comments, first reported by The Spectator, as a ‘new low’, adding: ‘If Reeves isn’t funding our Armed Forces because 50 per of them aren’t female, she is unfit for government. This is a new low.  'Labour have no idea how to protect us and know nothing about defence.’ Former Nato chief Lord Robertson pointed the finger at the Chancellor for the defence spending deadlock this week, accusing ‘non-military experts in the Treasury’ of ‘vandalism’. A long-awaited Defence Investment Plan setting out spending for the next decade is now more than six months overdue. Ministers have identified a £28 billion black hole in defence funding over the next four years.  But Ms Reeves is currently arguing she can’t afford to hand over more than £10 billion.  According to The Spectator, Ms Reeves asked military officials: ‘Why should we give money to a department that’s so far away from gender parity?’ Sir Keir’s spokesman repeatedly refused to comment on the ‘speculation’ on Thursday, telling reporters: ‘Our focus is on finalising the Defence Investment Plan.’  The Treasury later denied the claim, with one source describing it as ‘b******s’. Addressing spending at a meeting of the International Monetary Fund in Washington last night, Ms Reeves said: ‘We are working through a range of options.’ The Mail is urging increased spending through its Don’t Leave Britain Defenceless campaign. The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.