Sir Keir Starmer has been put on blast for spending a “fortune” on the Government’s “Chagos surrender deal” despite a looming threat from Russian spies.

Speaking to GB News, Conservative Party Chairman Kevin Hollinrake hit out at the “ridiculous” spending by the Prime Minister amid the activity of a Russian spy ship in British waters.

On Wednesday, Defence Secretary John Healey confirmed Russian spy ship Yantar is operating on the edge of UK waters and has directed lasers at RAF pilots monitoring its activities.

Mr Healey said: “We deployed a Royal Navy frigate and RAF P-8 planes to monitor and track this vessel’s every move, during which the Yantar directed lasers at our pilots.

“That Russian action is deeply dangerous. This is the second time this year that this ship, the Yantar, has deployed to UK waters.”

Hitting out at the Prime Minister’s spending priorities, Mr Hollinrake told GB News: “These ships are potentially putting our service personnel at risk, pilots of our aircraft, so of course we should be concerned.

“And at times like this, we should definitely support the Government in its strong language in terms of pushing back against Putin.

“We need to invest more in our defence capabilities. That’s why we said we should move to 3 per cent of GDP spend by 2030, and the Government so far has failed to meet that commitment.”

He fumed: “Also, it’s ridiculous at this point in time that we’re spending a fortune, 30 odd billion quid on basically the surrender deal with the Chagos Islands.

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“We should be spending that kind of money on our defence capability and, of course, we should be modernising our defence estate, making sure it’s fit for purpose for the modern era.”

Noting the work of Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge in wanting to modernise Britain’s defence systems, Mr Hollinrake explained: “These are all the things we want to do, and our Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge has been extremely strong on it.

“Those kinds of commitments have not yet been matched by the Government, and we very much hope they’ll match them.

“Ultimately, though, what we have to do to make sure we can afford to spend more on defence is we need a stronger economy, and that’s the opposite of what’s happening right now.”

Criticising Labour’s economic policy ahead of next week’s Budget, the Tory Chairman told GB News: “The growth in the economy that Keir Starmer promised is just not happening. He’s going backwards and he’s destroyed business confidence.

“So that’s why we need a party running this country that understands how to get to that stronger economy, how we cut the cost of doing Government.”

He added: “We cut taxes that would stimulate growth, stimulate business activity, restore business confidence, which is at an all-time low.

“So we need a party which understands how to get the economy growing again, and then we can afford to spend more on our public services, and indeed afford to spend more on defence.”

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