Tan Dhesi, the Labour chair of the Commons Defence Committee, criticises John Healey's "lamentable delay" in setting out a precise pathway to spending 3% of GDP on defence by 2030, the i Paper reports. It is the first criticism of the defence timetable from Labour's own benches.
"There is a cost to inaction. Investment in our nation's defence and security cannot be kicked into the long grass."
Ministry of Defence sources also told the paper that the Conservative claim of a £1bn cut to day-to-day defence funding over the next two years, compared with what was pledged in June, is untrue. They said it reflects a "technical adjustment" equal to the amount departments no longer need to spend on pensions.
That matches the OBR's view, reported earlier, that the pension saving nets off across government. The Treasury also disputes the claim. Calling the lower figure a cut remains misleading.
Elsewhere on the Labour benches, Rachael Maskell welcomed the £100 energy payment as a way to "take pressure off people this winter". Jon Trickett said: "Every step, however small, to help with the cost of living is welcome. But what the country needs is an end to stale Treasury orthodoxy which has done so much damage to the country, especially to the North."