British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak has announced his plan to increase his country’s defence spending, calling it “the biggest strengthening of our national defence for a generation.”
Sunak made the announcement during a press conference at a military base in Poland with Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary-General.
“We will increase defence spending to a new baseline of 2.5% of GDP, by 2030,” he declared, adding, “That starts today and rises steadily in each and every year.”
“Over the next six years, we’ll invest an additional £75bn in our defence. And it will be fully funded with no increase in borrowing or debt. So this is not some vague aspiration for the future.
“We have a clear plan for what we’ll spend, when we’ll spend it, and how we pay for it.”
Rishi Sunak
Sunak called it a plan that makes the United Kingdom “by far the largest defence power in Europe – and second largest in NATO.”
“This is a generational investment in British security and British prosperity. It makes us safer at home and stronger abroad,” he asserted.
Sunak noted that the world is becoming more dangerous.
He said that countries like Russia, Iran, North Korea and China are “increasingly assertive.”
“The danger they pose is not new. What is new is that these countries and their proxies are causing more instability … in more places at once. And they’re increasingly acting together, making common cause and an attempt to reshape the world order.”
Rishi Sunak
The British Prime Minister disclosed that he has three priorities for defence spending.
First, he said that defence spending in the UK will be put “on a war footing.”
“One of the central lessons of the war in Ukraine is that we need deeper stockpiles of munitions, and for industry to be able to replenish them more quickly,” he acknowledged.
Sunak said that his second priority is to prioritise innovation and new technology and his third priority is to support Ukraine for the long term.
“The costs of failing to support Ukraine now will be far greater than the costs of repelling Putin. Because only if he fails will he and other adversaries be deterred.
“And that is why the United Kingdom, whose history of standing up to dictators is so much part of our national consciousness, has come together with our allies to stand with Ukraine from the very start.”
Rishi Sunak
Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO General-Secretary, welcomed Sunak’s defence spending announcement, saying that it confirms the vital role the UK plays in the alliance.
“Once again, the UK is leading by example,” he noted.
More Tory Spin
Kevan Jones, the Labour MP and former Defence Minister, asserted that the Prime Minister’s pledge on defence spending is just more Tory spin.
Jones said, “The last time the UK spent 2.5% of GDP on defence was in 2010, under a Labour Government.”
“After 14 years of the Tories, the defence budget is now 7% smaller than it was in 2010,” he added.
John Healey, the shadow defence secretary, also suggested that the Tory proposal to raise defence spending to 2.5% of GDP is not particularly plausible.
In a response to Rishi Sunak’s announcement, Healey said, “As Keir Starmer recently set out, Labour wants to see a fully funded plan to reach 2.5%, but the Tories have shown time and time again that they cannot be trusted on defence and we will examine the detail of their announcement closely.”
Meanwhile, the Institute for Fiscal Studies thinktank said that it is hard to see Rishi Sunak could raise defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2030 without some other departments facing deep cuts, given the Tories’ unwillingness to raise taxes.
Ben Zaranko, an IFS economist, noted on X, “Ultimately, if we as a country need to permanently spend more on defence because the world has changed for the worse, we need to either 1) raise taxes or 2) consume less of something else (i.e. fewer public services).”
“Government is implicitly choosing 2) but won’t spell it out,” he added.
READ ALSO: A Missed Opportunity To Rein In Israeli Onslaught On Gaza
