The £298 billion headline includes ongoing defence costs, including wages, as well as investment. The four-year spending table gives a resource departmental expenditure limit of £172.7 billion and a capital limit of £125 billion. Those figures total £297.7 billion, which the document rounds to £298 billion. The £300 million difference matters when comparing detailed allocations with the rounded headline. Future governments would still have to maintain the stated spending limits.
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Resource and capital budgets explain the £298 billion headline
The resource and capital limits show how the rounded four-year total is constructed.