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UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced the biggest increase in military spending since the Cold War. On Tuesday, 25 February, speaking in the House of Commons, he said that the country would increase the defence budget to 2.5% of GDP by 2027, and in the next cadence, he intends to increase this figure to 3%, BBC reports.
The return of threats and a focus on security
Starmer stressed that the United Kingdom remains a strong ally of NATO and will maintain the security of the Euro-Atlantic area.
“If I had been told at the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall that we would see Russian tanks in European cities again in my lifetime, I would not have believed it. But here we are,” the Prime Minister said, calling Russia an immediate threat.
If additional funds for intelligence and security are included, the defence budget will reach 2.6% of GDP.
What does Britain look like against its allies?
According to the latest NATO figures for 2024, the increase in spending will put the UK in seventh place among the Alliance’s member states in terms of the share of GDP spent on defence. However,The Guardian notes that this could change quickly, as other European countries are also rapidly increasing their military budgets.
Poland, for example, has already announced record spending of 4.7% of GDP on defence, the highest among all NATO members.
13.4 billion pounds annually for defence
The government’s plan calls for an additional £13.4 billion annually from 2027 onwards.
Starmer warned that implementing this strategy would require “hard decisions” but called it a necessary step for national security. He also reiterated his intention to increase defence spending to 3% of GDP in his next term, no later than 2033-2034.
