VE Day and VJ Day: Commemorations for the 80th anniversaries
2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two, with a series of commemorative events planned.

On Wednesday 9 March 2022 the House of Commons will consider the estimates of defence spending.
Estimates Day debate: Defence (412 KB , PDF)
The MOD’s Defence Departmental Resources publication contains details of UK defence expenditure. In 2020/21 defence spending amounted to £42.4 billion. This was a nominal increase of £2.5 billion from 2019/20 but a real increase of £1.5 billion after inflation measured by HMT’s GDP deflator.
Supplementary Estimates 2021/22
The MOD proposed a reduction in its Resource DEL budget by £2.1 billion (-5%), a reduction in its Capital DEL budget by £68 million (-0.5%) and an increase in its Resource AME budget of £9.3 billion (612%). These changes mean that planned expenditure for 2021/22 is now: Resource DEL: £39.821 billion (this includes depreciation charges), Capital DEL: £14.265 billion and AME: £10,809 billion.
The reduction in Resource DEL is predominantly driven by:
The reduction in the Capital DEL budget is driven by:
The increase in Resource AME of £9.3 billion is driven by changes in discount rates on provisions primarily relating to nuclear decommissioning.
Provisions are used to set expenditure aside for known future costs. This future cost is discounted back to a present value in the accounts. The ‘discount rates’ have changed since the Main Estimates were set last year and as such all current provisions have to be adjusted to reflect the latest rates. These changes are beyond the control of the department.
Estimates Day debate: Defence (412 KB , PDF)
2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two, with a series of commemorative events planned.
An overview of the military assistance provided to Ukraine between February 2022 and January 2025
A general debate on the 80th anniversary of Victory over Japan is scheduled for Monday 21 July 2025 in the main chamber.