£3bn boost for armed forces expected in UK budget

Britain's armed forces are in line for a £3 billion boost, according to reports, as Chancellor Rachel Reeves prepares to unveil the Labour government's first budget.

Ms Reeves is set to announce an increase in the UK's defence budget for next year in her fiscal statement in the House of Commons, part of which will be used to give soldiers a pay rise backdated to April, the Telegraph reported.

The funding will also be used to buy weapons, with the aim of replenishing stockpiles depleted by donations to Ukraine.

A pathway to increasing defence spending to 2.5% of national economic output demanded by the Conservative Party will not be in the budget.

Ms Reeves will make history as the UK's first female chancellor when she delivers the budget.

In her speech, she is expected to say the "prize on offer" is "immense", and she will lay out new funding to cut hospital waiting lists, pave the way for more affordable homes and rebuild schools.

Harking back to the Labour governments of Clement Attlee, Harold Wilson and Tony Blair, Ms Reeves will say it is "not the first time that it has fallen to the Labour Party to rebuild Britain".

She has warned that the tax hikes and borrowing increases she is considering may not be enough to undo "14 years of damage" to the NHS, despite plans to pump billions of pounds into the health service.