I may be too cynical in old age but after years of avoiding the "2%" issue, I find it just a tad suspicious that the Government is this week suddenly all for it.
As frostchamber says, I wouldn't be surprised if some creative accounting has taken place and in a few months we're told that achieving 2% entails a cut.
I remain of the opinion MoD should first try not to waste money. Then see what it actually needs. Such matters used to be very carefully hidden, but 99% of people on pprune could easily identify £5Bn poured down the drain in the last few years with little to show for it. Why are politicians willfully blind to this policy of waste? And make no mistake, it IS policy, because MoD commits huge sums to defending those who implement it.
As for the "spend more on SAS", I seem to recall a very embarrassing day when a certain unit submitted a future requirement to certain IPT, only to be told they could have their upgrade that very day as a TA unit was being upgraded and had some old kit lying around. You simply wouldn't believe how common it is to receive an all singing and dancing requirement for kit that other parts of MoD regard as obsolescent. Requirements capture and articulation has been a joke for over 25 years.