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Britain's armed forces could get more warplanes, Navy ships and troops under plans being drawn-up by Labour, we can reveal.

The party is plotting a major overhaul of defence spending which could unlock a fresh cash bonanza for the military.

Under NATO rules, the Government must pump 2% of annual national income into defence every year.

But it only meets the spending target by counting pots of money previously excluded from the total, according to independent number-crunchers.

Shadow Defence Secretary Nia Griffith is considering switching to the old method – which would mean ministers having to fork out more on troops and hardware.

(Image: Getty)

In a wide-ranging interview, her first with a newspaper since being appointed in October, Ms Griffith explained why she U-turned on nuclear weapons, how she hopes to visit British troops fighting ISIS, and unveiled plans for the equipment spending bonanza.

She told the Mirror: “When Labour was in government we consistently spent well above the 2% commitment.

“But since 2010, the Tories have hammered the defence budget with major cuts.”

Independent House of Commons research cited NATO figures from 2015 showing included in UK defence spending was £820million on war pensions, £400million on UN peacekeeping missions, an estimated £200million spent on pensions for retired civilian MoD personnel and “much of MoD’s £1.4billion income”.

(Image: Getty Images)

Stripping out these figures, which are allowed to be included under Nato rules, would see Britain just miss the 2% benchmark.

Ms Griffith said: “The Government are very busy pretending they are doing things when in fact they have been very sneaky in what they have done - the fact they’re trying to say they’re spending 2% on defence when actually a big chunk of that is on pensions.

“Pensions are very important but they in no way contribute to the defence capabilities we have.

(Image: Ben Pruchnie)

“They are fiddling about with the figures. It’s smoke and mirrors, an accounting trick, a sleight of hand.”

Ms Griffith previously campaigned to axe Britain’s nuclear weapons, and Jeremy Corbyn is a lifelong campaigner against nukes.

But Ms Griffith has committed Labour to sticking with its policy to renew the Trident missile system.

She vowed: “We’re a democratic party and we have a democratic party policy.

“Our policy is absolutely, firmly committed to renewing Trident.

(Image: Rex Features)

“This is a vote we took back in 2007, so we’re already 10 years on from there.

“We have a commitment both to our international allies and our industrial partners for what we said we would do.

“Personally, yes, I have expressed doubts in the past.

“But what’s important is that when you take a decision you stick to that decision so people know exactly where they are with you and they can trust you on issues.”

She added: “We all know Jeremy has a very strong viewpoint on this, but quite clearly the National Policy Forum, the Labour Party has decided that we need to move on to other areas.

(Image: PA)

“We are reaffirming our current policy of renewal of Trident.”

Ms Griffith, who was first elected in 2005, wants to convince voters Labour can be trusted with the armed forces.

“It’s very important people remember the vast majority of Labour Party activists are in fact very solidly behind having a strong defence policy,” she said.

“Sometimes we are portrayed in the media as being soft on defence.

“But if you actually look at people who are doing work in the party, getting elected on the ground, they are very committed to our defence.

“We need to make absolutely certain that people hear a really strong voice from Labour on defence.

“We know it’s been a difficult time for the Labour Party generally over the past year and now we’ve got to get out there and make sure people know what we’re about.”

She hopes to visit Cyprus in the New Year to see for herself RAF operations against ISIS, saying it was “very important to be out there in the field”.

(Image: Getty)

And she backed the Mirror’s Save Our Steel campaign, saying: “Defence is a very important industry for us.

“There’s a very real concern that we should be using UK steel and we should be buying from companies that are manufacturing defence equipment here in the UK.”