Britain will accelerate an increase to its defense spending, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Tuesday, on the eve of a crucial visit to meet US President Donald Trump in Washington,
CNN reports.
Starmer said he will raise military spending from 2.3% of Britain’s GDP to 2.5% by 2027, and then again to 2.6% the following year, as a rift opens up between Trump and Europe over the future of the war in Ukraine.
“This government will begin the biggest sustained increase in defense spending since the end of the Cold War,” Starmer told parliament as he laid out the plans.
“We must reject any false choice between our allies. Between one side of the Atlantic or the other. That is against our history, country and party,” Starmer told members of parliament. He called Britain’s relationship with America his country’s “most important bilateral alliance,” and said: “This week when I meet President Trump, I will be clear: I want this relationship to go from strength to strength.”
Starmer also set an ambition to hike defense spending to 3% in the next parliament, which will begin in 2029 at the latest, after the next general election. That final target would depend on the fiscal conditions at the time, Starmer said.
Trump has urged NATO countries to raise their defense spending to 5% and made clear that the US will not work to maintain Europe’s security in the future.
At a press conference held by Starmer later on Tuesday, multiple journalists asked whether Trump’s attitude to European security had led to the British leader’s announcement.
Starmer told reporters that the increase in defense spending was “three years in the making,” referencing Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. “President Trump thinks we should do more, and I agree with him. It chimes with my thinking on this,” he said.
“This is very much my decision, based on my assessment of the circumstances that we face as a country, and it is taken first and foremost to ensure that the United Kingdom and its citizens are safe and secure,” Starmer added.
The increase in defense spending will be funded in part through a cut to international development spending, which will now fall from 0.5% of Britain’s GDP to 0.3% in the coming years, Starmer said. “That is not an announcement I am happy to make,” he said, adding the defense increase “can only be funded through hard choices.”
