Britain will increase defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP, a move which will mean billions of pounds in extra spending, Rishi Sunak has said.
The prime minister set out plans to ramp up defence spending to meet the target by 2030, a move praised by former defence minister James Heappey. Mr Heappey, who quit last month and called for a boost to defence spending, said it was “enormous news” and “hugely needed”.
Mr Sunak said it was “the biggest strengthening of our national defence for a generation”.
Former defence secretary Ben Wallace has demanded that all parties commit to a more ambitious target to spend 3 per cent of GDP on defence spending, warning of the “dangers we face” as a country.
The current defence secretary, Grant Shapps, has also called for Britain to hit the 3 per cent target.
Currently the UK spends just over 2 per cent of GDP on defence. The current figures include Britain’s support for Ukraine, which critics say artificially boosts the figure.
Mr Sunak’s announcement comes after he warned the world is now “more volatile and dangerous” than at any time since the Cold War.
He also piled pressure on European allies to boost their own defence spending, saying it is “important that Europeans invest in their own security”.
The promise also comes amid a flurry of activity from the prime minister ahead of a general election later this year. Last Friday he made a speech promising to end Britain’s “sick note culture”, while on Monday he held a rare Downing Street press conference to set out details of how his Rwanda deportation plan will work.
But critics cast doubt on the announcement, noting that Boris Johnson promised at a Nato summit in 2022 to increase Britain’s defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP this decade.
And economist Torsten Bell, chief executive of the Resolution Foundation think tank, said it was “a lot easier to annoucne than deliver”. Mr Bell said there were already post-election spending cuts pencilled in to fund Mr Sunak’s national insurance tax cuts, adding that it would be “totally impossible” to deliver them while raising defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP.
“The degree of fiscal commitments/fictions being built up for after this election is a real problem,” he added.
In 2014, Nato heads of state agreed to commit at least 2 per cent of GDP to spending on armed forces or the armed forces of Nato allies or the alliance itself.
The prime minister promised the spending pledge would come “without any increases in borrowing or debt”.
Mr Sunak stressed the UK was “not on the brink of war” but warned about the threats facing the world from “an axis of authoritarian states” including Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.
And he said he was putting the UK’s defence industry “on a war footing”.
Speaking at a military base in Poland, Mr Sunak said: “The danger they pose is not new, but what is new is that these countries or their proxies are causing more instability, more quickly, in more places at once.
“And they’re increasingly acting together, making common cause in an attempt to reshape the world order.”
Mr Sunak said some people would think “these are far away problems” but he said they “pose real risks to the United Kingdom’s security and prosperity”.
The PM and chancellor Jeremy Hunt had previously only said the 2.5 per cent goal would be met when the economic conditions allow.
But committing to 2030 is unlikely to appease some on the Conservative benches who have been pushing for at least 3 per cent to be spent on defence at a time when Vladimir Putin’s Russia is waging war on a European neighbour.
Under the new spending plan, the UK defence budget will increase immediately and then rise steadily to reach £87 billion at the end the decade.
Mr Sunak said: “In a world that is the most dangerous it has been since the end of the Cold War, we cannot be complacent.
“As our adversaries align, we must do more to defend our country, our interests, and our values.
“That is why today I am announcing the biggest strengthening of our national defence for a generation.
“We will increase defence spending to a new baseline of 2.5% of GDP by 2030 – a plan that delivers an additional £75 billion for defence by the end of the decade and secures our place as by far the largest defence power in Europe.
“Today is a turning point for European security and a landmark moment in the defence of the United Kingdom.
“It is a generational investment in British security and British prosperity, which makes us safer at home and stronger abroad.”
Mr Sunak’s announcement comes just weeks after Sir Keir Starmer confirmed his own ambition to boost the defence budget to 2.5 per cent of GDP.
Responding to the PM’s statement, shadow defence secretary John Healey said the Conservatives “have shown time and time again that they cannot be trusted on defence”.
He added: “The British public will judge ministers by what they do not what they say.
“Labour will conduct a strategic defence and security review in the first year in government to get to grips with the threats we face, the state of our Armed Forces, and the resources required.”
