UK vows to spend 5% of GDP on national security by 2035
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to meet a new Nato target to spend 5% of the UK's GDP on national security by 2035.At a Nato summit in the Netherlands, 32 member countries including the UK are expected to agree the 5% goal, with 3.5% to go on core defence and the remaining 1.5% on defence-related areas such as resilience and security. The split target is aimed at placating US President Donald Trump, who has urged Nato allies to spend more, while giving cash-strapped EU countries flexibility over how they meet the target.Downing Street has argued measures on energy and tackling smuggling gangs could be classified as security spending.
Speaking ahead of the two-day summit, Sir Keir said the UK had to "navigate this era of radical uncertainty with agility, speed and a clear-eyed sense of the national interest". "After all, economic security is national security, and through this strategy we will bring the whole of society with us, creating jobs, growth and wages for working people."
Nato (the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) is made up of 32 member countries who agree to defend each other if attacked. Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and Trump's re-election as US president last year, members of the organisation have faced increased pressure to boost their defence spending.Countries had been expected to spend at least 2% of their national income - or GDP - on defence, although last year, only 23 hit that target - an increase from three in 2014.In January, Trump said 2% was "not enough" and that Nato allies should be spending 5%.And speaking last year before his re-election, he said he would "encourage" aggressors to "do whatever the hell they want" to European allies who don't pay their way.In February, Sir Keir set out plans to increase the UK's defence spending, as opposed to national security spending, to 2.5% by April 2027 and expressed a "clear ambition" to reach 3% by 2034 if economic conditions allowed.On Monday, the government said it expected to reach the target of spending 4.1% of GDP on national security by 2027.The 1.5% element of the 5% Nato target is for what is described as "resilience", such as border security and protection against cyber attacks.For the UK, this latter element is expected to be met by the year after next, with core defence spending reaching 2.6% by then. Getting core defence spending to 3.5% isn't expected until 2035 – two general elections away – and Downing Street hasn't said how it will be paid for.Alongside the spending commitment, the government published its National Security Strategy which said the UK needed to be more "competitive and robust" in science, education, trade and frontier technology.It also sought to stress that investment in defence would be felt "directly in the pockets of working people" pointing to new jobs that would be created.
The summit will be Mark Rutte's first as secretary general of Nato. Speaking at a press conference on Monday, the former Dutch prime minister said the 5% spending commitment was "a quantum leap that is ambitious, historic and fundamental to securing our future".However, it is unclear how nations will meet the target or whether they will at all.On Sunday evening, Spain claimed it had secured an opt-out, something later denied by Rutte.Ukraine is not a member of Nato and although President Volodymyr Zelensky has been invited to the summit dinner he will not be taking part in discussions of the North Atlantic Council.Last week, Ed Arnold from the defence think tank Rusi told the BBC contentious issues - including a new Russia strategy - had been removed from the summit's agenda.
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As well as agreeing to the defence and security investment goal, the British government is also publishing a new national security strategy on Tuesday that will highlight the importance of a wider definition of what constitutes security, including energy, food and borders. There will also be a focus on a whole-of-society approach to resilience in an echo of the UK's Cold War past. It described the commitment to invest in defence, security and national resilience as an aligning of "national security objectives and plans for economic growth in a way not seen since 1945". Sir Keir said: "We must navigate this era of radical uncertainty with agility, speed and a clear-eyed sense of the national interest to deliver security for working people and keep them safe. "That's why I have made the commitment to spend 5% of GDP on national security. This is an opportunity to deepen our commitment to NATO and drive greater investment in the nation's wider security and resilience." The funding will be split, with 3.5% of GDP going on core defence and 1.5% on homeland security and national resilience - a new and so far less clearly defined criteria. Progress on investment will be reviewed in 2029. The defence goal is higher than the government's current ambition to lift defence expenditure to 3% of GDP by 2034, from 2.3% currently. The only solid commitment is to spend 2.6% on defence by 2027 - a figure that has been boosted by the addition of the whole of the budget for the intelligence agencies. This level of intelligence spending had not previously been included and has drawn criticism from defence experts because it is not the same as tanks, artillery and troops. The government, in its statement, is now focusing on an even higher-sounding number, claiming that it will hit 4.1% of the new NATO target by 2027. However, this is merely based on adding the new 1.5% spending goal for "resilience and security" to the already stated 2.6% defence spending pledge. A Downing Street spokesperson was unable immediately to say how much of GDP is currently spent on whatever is included in the new resilience category. It could include pre-announced investment in civil nuclear energy as well as infrastructure projects such as roads and railways. For the UK, 1.5% of GDP is about £40bn - a significant chunk of national income. Sir Ben Wallace, a former Conservative defence secretary, accused the government of "spin" over its spending pledge because it does not include any new money anytime soon. "The threat to our country is real not spin," he told Sky News. "This government thinks it can use smoke and mirrors to deceive the public and Donald Trump. This is an insult to our troops who will see no significant new money. It fools no one."
