UK will be FORCED to ramp up defence spending after Keir refused to commit to funding despite ‘battle ready' promise

Scottish Sun

4 days ago

A defence source said Britain's ministers have 'been in denial'
WAR READY UK will be FORCED to ramp up defence spending after Keir refused to commit to funding despite 'battle ready' promise
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BRITAIN will be steamrollered into ramping up defence spending when Nato allies agree to a target of 3.5 per cent of GDP at a summit later this month.
Labour's pledge to 'lead in Nato' would be blown to smithereens if Britain is left behind, a top defence insider said.
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Sir Keir Starmer vowed to get Britain 'battle ready'
Credit: PA
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Starmer will discuss the NATO target this week
Credit: Getty
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Donald Trump has demanded allies spend 5 per cent of GDP on defence
Credit: Reuters
Top Brass have been baffled by Kier Starmer's refusal to say when he will hit Labour's target of spending 3 per cent.
The PM vowed to get Britain "battle ready" yesterday with new doomsday nukes and robotic fighter jets – but refused to say how he will fund it.
Donald Trump has demanded allies spend 5 per cent of GDP on defence – and he has threatened to abandon nations that fail to pay their way.
Nato's chief Mark Rutte has successfully lobbied allies to try and hit Trump's target by spending 3.5 per cent on core defence – including troops, tanks and ships – and 1.5 per cent on security and infrastructure, including spy agencies.
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France's President Macron has backed Rutte's demands.
And Germany is already on course to hit the target within the next few years.
A defence source said Britain's ministers have 'been in denial' about the looming Nato summit and pledges key allies will make.
Starmer is expected to discuss the Nato target in a crunch meeting this week.
A defence source said: 'Do we want to be lumped with Spain as the only allies that are complaining?'
At the launch a landmark Strategic Defence Review Defence Secretary John Healey said: 'Our defence policy is Nato First.
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'We will end the hollowing out of our Armed Forces and lead
in a stronger, more lethal Nato.'
Labour has pledged to increase defence spending from 2.3 per cent of GDP to 2.5 per cent by 2027.
Starmer said: 'We have set the ambition to reach 3 per cent in the next Parliament, subject to economic and fiscal conditions.'
But pressed on what that meant, he said: 'I'm not going to indulge in the fantasy politics of simply plucking dates from the air.'
Defence Secretary Healey said the 3 per cent target was a "certainty
But he backtracked 24-hours later, insisting it was merely an "ambition".
Britain's three biggest weapons programmes – including the Trident 2 nuclear deterrent, the new sixth generation fighter jets and new hunter killer submarines – will cost at least 3 per cent of GDP, a former defence minister told The Sun.