Starmer Declines to Give Timeline on 2.5 Percent Defence Spending

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer talks to journalists as he travels onboard a plane to Washington to attend a NATO summit on July 9, 2024. (Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire)

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer declined to commit to a timeline for when the UK will reach his government’s “cast iron” pledge to raise defence spending to 2.5 percent of GDP.

Sir Keir is in Washington for a NATO summit where he will be pushing his counterparts to reaffirm their commitment to the alliance by increasing their defence spending. Asked on Tuesday whether the new government would achieve its goal within this Parliament, the prime minister said that he remains committed to his campaign pledge, but that it was subject to “our fiscal rules.”

“We are committed to the 2.5 percent, as I have said before the election and I say again after the election. That is obviously subject to our fiscal rules, but the commitment is there,” he said.

Ahead of his trip, the government reaffirmed the UK’s “cast iron commitment” to spending 2.5 percent of GDP on defence.

Both the Labour and Conservative parties made increasing defence spending to 2.5 percent of GDP a priority in their campaigns ahead of the July 4 general election, with former Prime Minster Rishi Sunak setting a date of 2030 to hit the target at a projected total cost of £75 billion over the next six years.

‘Root-and-Branch’ Defence Review

Sir Keir said that decisions on how the target will be met will follow analysis of the UK’s security and defence capabilities.

The prime minister announced he had ordered a “root-and-branch” Strategic Defence Review, which will be overseen by Defence Secretary John Healey.

He confirmed on Tuesday: “The strategic review will take place, that will happen next week, and we will set out the details of that.

“The manifesto commitment was that it would take place within a year, I would like it to be quicker than that if I’m honest and we’ll set out the details about how we are going to do it.”

In a statement, Foreign Secretary David Lammy said that the Strategic Defence Review will focus on threats including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, instability in the Middle East, “and the rise of authoritarian countries.”

Military ‘Hollowed Out’

The review will include developing a new defence industrial strategy and examining the shape of the armed forces—including their readiness to engage in combat.

The state of the military and its funding was a concern for MPs in the previous government. In February, the House of Commons Defence Committee warned that the UK’s ability to engage in a war was marred by the armed forces’ recruitment crisis and stockpile shortage.

“The government risks being unable to build true warfighting and strategic readiness because of the sheer pace of operations, which could threaten the security of the UK,” the committee told MPs in a report.

The “hollowing out” of the military since 2010 had undermined the country’s warfighting resilience, the committee’s inquiry heard, warning that the armed forces would exhaust their capabilities “after the first couple of months of the engagement” in a peer-on-peer war.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and his wife Victoria board a plane at Stansted Airport as they head to Washington to attend a NATO summit, in Essex, England, on July 9, 2024. (Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire)

NATO Allies

The prime minister, foreign secretary, and defence secretary are in Washington to join NATO leaders in marking the alliance’s 75th anniversary.

The defence union had agreed to a goal of spending 2 percent on defence in 2014 after Russia annexed Crimea and in response to rising instability in the Middle East.

For a number of years some members have fallen short of the target, prompting criticism from former President Donald Trump during his tenure that they had become over-reliant on big spenders like the United States.

On Tuesday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the alliance’s spending ambition will be considered a requirement of members, rather than an aspiration.

Mr. Stoltenberg said in a speech delivered on Tuesday: “The language in the declaration we agreed 10 years ago was that we should strive towards reaching 2% of GDP for defence. And that has made a big difference.

“Now we have changed that language to say that 2% is a minimum. So 2% is no longer some kind of ceiling but 2% is now the floor for our defence spending. So we’re not complacent, it’s not good enough what we do now, so we will do more.”

PA Media contributed to this report.