Giving a statement in the Commons, Sir Keir Starmer has announced defence spending will increase to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 – faster than the government had originally planned. The boost will be funded by slashing the overseas aid budget.
Tuesday 25 February 2025 13:44, UK
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The prime minister was clear that cutting the foreign aid budget to fund defence spending was not a decision he was happy to make.
Nonetheless, it’s a move that’s being widely condemned by charities.
And now the chair of the international development select committee, Labour MP Sarah Champion, has said it’s “deeply shortsighted”.
“The deep irony is development money can prevent wars and is used to patch up the consequences of them,” she said.
Cutting the aid budget “doesn’t make anyone safer”, she added, as she called for the government to rethink the move.
Sir Keir Starmer can now go to the White House “armed” with what he hopes will be an announcement welcomed by Donald Trump to increase defence spending, says our political editor Beth Rigby.
The PM will meet the US president on Thursday, hoping to persuade him that security guarantees for Ukraine would be worth his while.
Boosting defence spending is something Trump has long called for European countries to do, and for Starmer it’s a “really big moment” in both foreign and domestic policy terms.
“There is pressure on spending, and many things this government has promised predicated on economic growth,” says Beth.
“He’s made a decision to put the country’s security first.”
An important step in the right direction
There are already some dissenting voices saying the PM has not gone nearly far enough with his pledge to hit 2.5% of national income on defence within two years.
Our security and defence editor Deborah Hayes says while it’s “not enough” money to reverse “decades of underfunding”, for those inside Britain’s military it’ll be an “important step in the right direction”.
There have been “screaming alarm bells about the state of UK defences”, which have been “hollowed out” since the end of the Cold War.
Today’s announcement marks recognition of a “wake-up call so many people inside defence have been waiting to hear”.
Ben Wallace was the defence secretary for many years under the Conservative government.
He is no longer an MP, and missed out on becoming NATO secretary general to Jens Stoltenberg.
Wallace has reacted to the news that Sir Keir Starmer will increase defence funding – and not in a good way.
He said: “Extra 0.2% of GDP by 2027 on defence??
“A staggering desertion of leadership.
“Tone deaf to dangers of the world and demands of the United States.
“Such a weak commitment to our security and nation puts us all at risk.”
The prime minister had been under pressure from some quarters to go beyond 2.5% of GDP on defence.
Former Foreign Office minister Andrew Mitchell told the Commons while he agrees with the prime minister’s “strategic direction” on defence spending – it could be funded differently.
“He does have choices about how he funds this important uplift,” he says.
“He and I voted together in the last parliament against balancing the books on the backs of the poorest people in the world.
“Does he still think that vote was right?”
Sir Keir Starmer says he is “proud of that vote”, saying he “absolutely” wants to get back to spending more on international development.
“This has been a difficult decision.”
Sir Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, is giving his speech in response to the government’s announcement today.
He says his party backs the increase in defence spending, like they backed the government’s stance on Ukraine.
However, Davey calls for seized Russian money to be used, rather than cutting aid spending, and asks Sir Keir Starmer to work with European allies on this.
He says: “We strongly support the prime minister raising defence spending to 2.5%, preferably using seize Russian assets to pay for extra defence support for Ukraine.”
He also asks for the defence spending boost to go towards reversing “short-sighted cuts of 10,000 troops from our armed forces”, which were made under the Tories.
We need US to help Ukraine, says PM
Davey also wants to see Starmer push Donald Trump to change his mind and support Ukraine.
In response, the prime minister says the increase in support for Ukraine needs to be done “together with the US”.
Starmer says work will be done with Europe to see what can be done to increase funding from Russian assets.
Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the Conservative Party, is now responding to the prime minister’s decision to raise defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027.
First, she says the West has overall “not done enough to support Ukraine”.
“We want this terrible war to end, but Ukraine needs to be at the negotiating table. But the West must continue to be intensely robust in the face of Vladimir Putin.”
However, Badenoch says it is “the first duty of every government” to support its own people, and is “pleased” about the defence spending hike.
PM: ‘Very difficult’ to cut foreign aid
Badenoch welcomes the announcement on “repurposing money” from the overseas development fund to bolster defence spending.
“Can the prime minister say with confidence that 2.5% by 2027 is sufficient,” she asks, urging him to look properly at how it is funded.
The prime minister denies the UK will borrow to pay for the 2.5% of GDP in defence spending.
“That has meant a very difficult decision on overseas development,” he adds. “But it is important we explain where the money will come from.”
The prime minister says the foreign aid budget will be cut to fund the uptick in defence spending.
He says that it will fall from 0.5% of gross national income this year to 0.3% in 2027.
Sir Keir Starmer says: “I want to be clear to the House that is not an announcement I am happy to make.”
The PM says that the aid budget has in recent years been used to pay asylum backlog hotels, and says clearing the backlog there will free up money to spend on aid.
‘British people must play a bigger part’
Starmer says the country’s “whole approach to national security must now change”.
“We will have to ask British industry, British universities, British businesses and the British people to play a bigger part,” he says.
The prime minister finishes his speech by saying: “At moments like these in our past, Britain has stood up to be counted – it has come together, and it has demonstrated strength.
“That is what the security of our country needs now, and it is what this government will deliver.”
UK defence spending will rise to 2.5% of GDP by 2027, the prime minister has announced.
Sir Keir Starmer made the announcement in an unexpected Commons statement ahead of talks with Donald Trump at the White House.
He tells the Commons: “We will deliver our commitment to spend 2.5% of GDP on defence, but we will bring that forward so we reach that level in 2027.
“And we will maintain that for the rest of this parliament.”
Starmer explains this means spending £13.4bn more on defence every year from 2027.
The prime minister adds that the UK will recognise the contribution of intelligence services, which means “taken together we will be spending 2.6% on our defence from 2027”.
But, Starmer says, the West “needs to go further”.
He lays out plans – subject to economic and fiscal conditions – for defence spending to rise of 3% of GDP in the next parliament.
Trump puts Europe under pressure
The government had been planning to lay out a “pathway” to reaching 2.5% (up from around 2.3%) via a strategic defence review in the spring, but has been under pressure to fast-track it since the US president opened talks with Vladimir Putin about ending the war in Ukraine.
That bombshell development saw European leaders forced to start talking tough on defence, with the Trump administration warning the continent could no longer rely on American support.
Trump has called on NATO allies to move towards spending 5% of national income on defence – more than even the US does right now.
Sir Keir Starmer is on his feet in the Commons, where he is delivering an unexpected statement on defence and security.
The prime minister says “these times demand a united Britain, and we must deploy all of our resources” to ensure security.
Starmer says the UK should be “proud of our response” to the war in Ukraine, including British people opening their doors to fleeing Ukrainians.
‘Russia is a menace’
“We should not pretend that any of this has been easy,” he says, noting that British people have felt the impact of the war through rising prices.
“Russia is a menace in our waters, in our airspace and on our streets.”
He adds that the UK must meet a new global era “together, and with strength”.
Sir Keir Starmer is on his feet in the Commons to make a statement on defence and security.
It wasn’t in the diary and has come out of the blue ahead of his trip to the White House for talks with Donald Trump.
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