Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.
Sir Keir Starmer is set to face tough questions over the UK’s defence spending as the prime minister gears up to meet with European allies at a major defence summit.
The prime minister will meet with leaders from the 10 member states of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) – a UK-led European defence alliance -in Tallinn on Monday and Tuesday, with defence spending expected to be the main topic of discussion.
Just hours before the summit began, Estonia’s defence minister Hanno Pevkur issued a stark warning to allies that spending 2 per cent of GDP on defence is simply not enough.
He urged allies to act immediately to boost funding, suggesting one possible method would be to introduce a security tax – something Estonia will be introducing from the new year
While ministers have pledged to boost UK defence spending from its current point – at just above 2 per cent – to 2.5 per cent, it is not yet clear when or how this target will be achieved.
Mr Pevkur said the topic of defence spending will be the main topic of discussion at the Tallinn summit, telling The Independent: “My main message is that paying 2 per cent of GDP to secure the peace is not very much”.
“We don’t have time to wait to go up to 3 per cent or even to 2.5 per cent. We need to do it immediately. We had to increase our taxes, so we are introducing a security tax here in Estonia from January next year”.
He added: “We urge the other countries to do the same, we urge other countries to boost their defence spendings.”
A number of Nato member states do not yet meet the 2 per cent of GDP threshold for defence spending. Meanwhile, there are also concerns over the failure of Sir Keir to specify a timescale in relation to his pledge to increase UK spending to 2.5 per cent.
While Mr Pevkur acknowledged that it is “up to ach country how they find their best option to secure finances for defence”, he said he will be very clear at the summit that “2 per cent is not enough, it should be at least be 5 per cent”.
Estonia is on track to spend 3.4 per cent of its GDP on defence in 2024. The country is looking to increase this to 3.7 per cent by 2026, Mr Pevkur said.
But he insisted it’s not just about arbitrary targets, explaining: “When somebody can tell you today that they can fulfil these force requirements with 2 per cent – very good, I have no problem with that. But when we see that to fulfil these requirements you need to invest more, then you have to make decisions in politics.”
It comes amid growing concern over Britain’s preparedness for a conflict and the state of its armed forces.
In a foreboding speech in Brussels last week, Nato general secretary Mark Rutte warned that the West is not ready to deal with the threat of war from Russia, declaring it is “time to shift to a wartime mindset and turbocharge our defence production”.
Meanwhile, writing in The Independent, Sir Richard Shirreff – who served as Nato’s deputy supreme allied commander in Europe from 2011 to 2014 – said another global conflict will only be prevented if there is a “band of deterrent steel from the Baltic to the Black Sea” – something he said the UK may have to be prepared to help realise without the support of Washington.
His dramatic intervention came alongside warnings from former defence secretary Ben Wallace and Labour peer Admiral Lord West that a failure to prioritise defence would be a grave error for the prime minister.
There is growing concern about the strength of president-elect Donald Trump’s commitment to Nato, following repeated threats to pull out of the alliance if member states do not spend more on defence.
Sir Richard warned that Britain can make “no assumptions that Trump would honour Nato’s doctrine of collective defence”, adding: “If we are to deter a third world war, Europe must step up to the mark.”
The Ministry of Defence has been contacted for comment.
