9 hours ago
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Starmer accepts Trump demand on defence spending rise
The increase will see a major rise what UK taxpayers spend on defence.
Sir Keir has committed to spend 2.5% of GDP on defence from April 2027, with a goal of increasing that to 3% over the next Parliament, a timetable which could stretch to 2034.
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The previous Conservative government had committed to increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2030.
But ahead of the beginning of the Nato summit, the Prime Minister said the UK must navigate "this era of radical uncertainty with agility, speed and a clear-eyed sense of the national interest" to keep people 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.
President Trump in the White House on Saturday (Image: AP) '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."
The UK government expects most Nato members will agree to spend 3.5% of GDP on core defence, such as the armed forces and weapons, and 1.5% on resilience and security. Under the plan the UK expects to reach at least 4.1% of GDP in 2027.
However, Nato member Spain has not agreed after the country's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, last week said he would not commit to the 5% figure.
It was reported on Sunday evening that Spain has reached a deal with Nato that would see it excluded from the 5% spending target.
Mr Sanchez said that Spain would be able to keep its commitments to the 32-nation military alliance by spending 2.1% of GDP on defence needs.
SNP defence spokesman Dave Doogan said the Prime Minister's announcement underlined that previous defence cuts had put UK security "at risk".
He said: "Westminster has spent decades slashing defence spending in Scotland and depleting our armed forces capabilities - cutting Scottish regiments, personnel, ships, aircraft and with it, eroding the relevance of defence within Scottish communities which is so vital to recruitment and retention.
"Today's announcement exposes that successive Westminster defence cuts represented a catastrophic false economy, which has put our security at risk. After years of neglect, it's vital that this latest UK government finally delivers a full and fair share of funding for Scotland's conventional forces to boost defences at our end of this island and deliver jobs and investment across Scotland's communities.
'It is vital that increased public funds are spent well - and our defence capabilities are reinforced wisely. Westminster's track record of illegal wars and doomed interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan coupled with Whitehall's litany of procurement disasters such as Nimrod MRA 4 and Ajax Armoured Fighting Vehicles, have put the safety of our troops at risk and wasted £Billions in taxpayers' money.
"The UK must now regroup with our European allies on defence procurement and manufacturing rather than glorying in being isolated from the EU while being dismissed by the US at the same time. The need for this strategic and pragmatic way forward, to galvanise Euro-Atlantic security, was made abundantly clear when the EU penned an €800bn defence deal with the increasingly irrelevant UK very much looking in from the outside."
Nato secretary general Mark Rutte said a defence investment plan, set to be agreed at the gathering, 'introduces a new baseline, 5% of GDP to be invested in defence'.
Speaking at a press conference ahead of the summit, the former Dutch prime minister said the move would be a 'quantum leap'.
He told reporters: 'As the world becomes more dangerous, allied leaders will take bold decisions to strengthen our collective defence, making Nato a stronger, a fairer and a more lethal alliance.
'This will include a major new defence investment plan, raising the benchmark for defence investment to 5% of GDP.'
He said the defence plan 'that allies will agree in The Hague introduces a new baseline: 5% of GDP to be invested in defence.
'This is a quantum leap that is ambitious, historic, and fundamental to securing our future.'
US President Donald Trump has previously called for nations in the 32-member bloc to commit to 5%.
Defence was one of the areas that benefited at the spending review earlier this month, when figures published by the Treasury showed that average annual real-terms growth for defence between the 2023-24 and 2028-29 financial year is 3.6%.
