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The UK plans to support the push for NATO so that by 2035 all members will spend at least 3.5% of their GDP on defense despite the reluctance of Kiel’s Prime Minister starmer at the time the UK reaches 3%.
Following pressure from US President Donald Trump, NATO Secretary-General Mark Latte has urged all members to agree to a significantly higher goal of 3.5% compared to the current 2%. In areas such as security and defense-related infrastructure, an additional 1.5% will be covered, totaling up to 5%.
NATO Defense Ministers, including British John Healy, will meet at the Brussels Alliance headquarters on Thursday to grant approval to new targets, officials who were briefed on preparations told the Financial Times.
However, this timing is potentially troubling for the government as it attempts to balance strengthening defence spending with a series of unpopular welfare cuts that have hampered its position in the polls.
Monday’s priorities have begun the UK’s long-awaited strategic defence review. It was billed as one of the biggest overhauls of the British Army in the first century, but refused to commit to a specific date for defence spending to rise to 3%.
The Prime Minister said he was “100% that can be delivered”, but still refused to give an exact date.
Supporting NATO’s push to increase defence spending even more by 2035 raises new questions about where money comes from. Starmer’s Government says it will raise its defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 to receive funding through a significant cut in international aid budget.
The next Parliamentary 3% target will raise defensive spending of more than £850 billion a year from £64 billion in 2024, with 3.5% in 2035 well above £100 million.
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Trump has called for all NATO allies to pledge to increase defensive spending to 5% of GDP over the next decade. This is at the level where US authorities say that they are “equal” in the burden of protecting Europe.
NATO diplomats said agreeing to Trump’s demands is a prerequisite for the US president who will be attending the NATO leaders summit held in The Hague later this month.
By pledging to hit targets, other leaders hope that Trump will not repeat his threat of reducing US protections against European NATO allies and reducing the deployment of American troops and weapons on the continent.
Under the plan created by Rutte, the 5% target consists of 3.5% of core defense spending and 1.5% of defence neighbourhood issues such as cybersecurity and military mobility infrastructure. Most allies have already hit the 1.5% portion. This means that 3.5% core defense spending is a major challenge for members.
“I think the Hague will agree to a high spending target of 5% total,” said Latte, reflecting previous remarks made by the US Secretary of State last week, saying he visited the US.
Downing Street declined to comment beyond pointing out Star’s comments on Monday that the government was taking a “NATO first approach.”
Lord George Robertson, former NATO executive director and co-author of the UK SDR Report, told a newspaper podcast on Tuesday that Latte warned about countries that “having goals are… ambitions,” but actually follow their commitments.
“We see that it’s very difficult for many countries to actually do that,” Robertson said.
Additional Reports by Jim Picard in London
