Britain splits on war bonds as defence push squeaks through

Britain split almost down the middle on whether the government should issue war bonds to fund its £300bn defence commitment by 2030. The proposal scraped through by the narrowest of margins, the kind of result that suggests the country has not so much decided as parked its doubts on either side of a very thin line.

The verdicts

Should the UK government issue war bonds to fund its £300bn defence spending commitment by 2030? squeaked through by a single vote. The near tie captures a nation that remains uneasy about both the scale of rearmament and the bill attached to it.

Should the lower qualifying earnings threshold for pension auto-enrolment be removed? passed with a modest majority. Support came strongest from the youngest voters and those nearing retirement, while workers in their late thirties and early forties pushed back hardest, apparently wary of any further squeeze on take-home pay.

Voting continues tomorrow.

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