Keir Starmer accused of ‘playing with fire’ with defence spending as he arrives for Nato summit - live

Sir Keir Starmer has been accused by former colonel in British military intelligence Philip Ingram of “playing with fire” by delaying a decision on defence spending until after a review.

The prime minister said he is committed to spending 2.5% of GDP on defence “within our fiscal rules” ahead of the Nato summit in Washington DC.

But he cautioned that he needed to carry out a review before setting a timeline to reach that goal.

Sir Keir is attending the 75th summit of the Nato defence alliance in the US, where he will meet President Biden at the White House in their first face-to-face meeting.

During the morning round, armed forces minister Luke Pollard claimed the next review into defence will not be completed until next year.

In the Commons, hundreds of MPs are continue to be sworn in after Diane Abbott was praised by the PM on Tuesday during his first speech as prime minister, following tension between the two early in the campaign trail.

Liberal Democrat environment spokesman Tim Farron has called for Thames Water to be brought into public ownership.

Speaking to the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the former Lib Dem leader said: “Thames Water is a special case. I think they are the most egregious offender, if you like, and the simple answer is Thames Water should be taken back into administration and directly run by the Government for the time being.”

It comes as Thames Water faced widespread criticism for levels of sewage leaking into waterways. Events including this year’s Boat Race and Henley Royal Regatta faced warnings over levels of E.coli in the water.

The water company was recently caught in a debt crisis after announcing it was creaking under a debt pile of more than £15 billion.

Kemi Badenoch has