PM Starmer takes a shot at Trump as he sets Britain on a course that will accelerate an increase to its defence spending, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Tuesday, on the eve of a crucial visit to meet US President Donald Trump in Washington.
Starmer said he will raise military spending from 2.3% of Britain’s GDP to 2.5% by 2027, and then again to 2.6% the following year, as a rift opens up between Trump and Europe over the future of the war in Ukraine.
However, yesterday’s announcements have all been to appease Trump, the PM has already admitted defeat to the Trump’s bullying attack on European. Something Starmer has resigned to the brits into accepting.
“This government will begin the biggest sustained increase in defense spending since the end of the Cold War,” Starmer told parliament as he laid out the plans.
Starmer takes a shot at Trump
“We must reject any false choice between our allies. Between one side of the Atlantic or the other. That is against our history, country and party,” Starmer told members of parliament. He called Britain’s relationship with America his country’s “most important bilateral alliance,” and said: “This week when I meet President Trump, I will be clear: I want this relationship to go from strength to strength.”
In his speech Starmer took a shot at Trump, suggesting Trump was the one making the divisions and also repeated Trump’s words for NATO.
The guardian called the Starmer a puppet and the FT.com called the United states the biggest threat to Europe, bigger than Russia and China combined, calling it the enemy of the west.
Britain is invested in NATO
Trump has urged NATO countries to raise their defense spending to 5% and made clear that the US will not work to maintain Europe’s security in the future.
At a press conference held by Starmer later on Tuesday, multiple journalists asked whether Trump’s attitude to European security had led to the British leader’s announcement.
Starmer told reporters that the increase in defense spending was “three years in the making,” referencing Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. “President Trump thinks we should do more, and I agree with him. It chimes with my thinking on this,” he said.
“This is very much my decision, based on my assessment of the circumstances that we face as a country, and it is taken first and foremost to ensure that the United Kingdom and its citizens are safe and secure,” Starmer added.
Starmer happy to cut aid
The increase in defense spending will be funded in part through a cut to international development spending, which will now fall from 0.5% of Britain’s GDP to 0.3% in the coming years, Starmer said. “That is not an announcement I am happy to make,” he said, adding the defense increase “can only be funded through hard choices.”
Starmer also set an ambition to hike defense spending to 3% in the next parliament, which will begin in 2029 at the latest, after the next general election. That final target would depend on the fiscal conditions at the time, Starmer said.
Cruel betrayal of people living in poverty – WaterAid
Charities who will be affected by the cuts to international development spending said that they were “shocked” and “stunned” by Starmer’s decision.
WaterAid, a charity focused on providing clean water and water systems to those in need, called the move a “cruel betrayal of people living in poverty globally.”
And the co-CEO of ActionAid UK, a charity working with women and girls living in poverty, called the cuts “reckless,” writing in a statement that “there is no justification for abandoning the world’s most marginalized time and time again to navigate geopolitical developments.”
“This is a political choice — one with devastating consequences,” Hannah Bond said.
Badenoch challenges Starmer at PMQs
Kemi Badenoch challenges Starmer at PMQs, the leader of the opposition did not provide opposition to the spending increase, instead quibbles over the amount of how much the defence budget is increasing – Starmer says it’s an extra £13.4bn a year from 2027, Badenoch suggests it’s closer to £6bn.
In the exchanges, Starmer accuses Badenoch of repeating the same question – she responds by calling him “patronising”
She also accuses Starmer of playing “silly games” with the figures – and again asks him to set out the plan’s finances. Which is accurate as Starmer assumes the spending won’t increase ( alongside inflation ) for the next 3 years.
The PM adds that the figure is based on comparing defence spending in 2024/25, of £66.3bn, with spending £79.7bn in 2027/28 – a difference of £13.4bn.
For Context – How does Iran spend so little and get a higher output?
Britain’s previous Conservative government set a goal to reach the 2.5% target on defense spending by 2030. After winning a general election last year, Starmer maintained the goal, but refused to set a timeline on when it would be achieved.
“Courage is what our own era now demands of us,” Starmer told MPs as he announced the new timeframe.
For context a country like Iran which is under immense international sanctions is able to develop and maintain an armed forces much greater than the UK’s and is able to use the money to create more drones and aircraft carriers with less money.
Iran plans to triple its military budget, a government spokeswoman has said, as tensions with rival Israel rise amid the Israeli military’s offensives in Gaza and Lebanon.
Iran’s current defense budget is, considerably less than the UK’s, at $16.7bn in 2024/25. To add context the Iranian army is approximately 1 million military personnel and the UK’s is under Two hundred thousand military personal.
Additionally to the defence spending the UK also spends 2.3% of GDP on NATO, which is due to increase to 2.5%, which is another 66.3Bn spent mainly on US defence contractors and companies, which is makes actually defence spending greater than our NHS budget.
If the UK spent that money on an European defense alliance we could be the military leaders, especially across the continent, with own resources and expertise that European countries would spend with us, alongside France and Germany.
