Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has promised to meet a new Nato goal to spend 5% of the UK’s GDP on national security by 2035.
During a Nato summit in the Netherlands, 32 member countries, including the UK, are expected to agree on the 5% target, with 3.5% going towards core defense and the remaining 1.5% towards defense-related areas such as resilience and security.
The split target is intended to appease US President Donald Trump, who has urged Nato allies to increase their spending, while also giving cash-strapped EU countries flexibility in meeting the target.
Downing Street has argued that measures related to energy and tackling smuggling gangs could be classified as security spending.
Conservative shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel criticized the government for announcing the target without providing any new funding to support it.
Dame Priti stated that the government should increase funding sooner due to the current dangerous state of geopolitics.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast, she added, “I don’t believe they can attend a Nato meeting and discuss funding that may come in 10 years, when there is a real and immediate threat to us now.”
Both the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties have expressed support for increasing defense spending.
Liberal Democrat defense spokesperson Helen Maguire stated that it is crucial for the government to meet the 5% Nato spending target, especially after the damage done to defense by the Conservatives.
“The threat of Putin’s Russia, combined with the unpredictability of the Trump White House, requires a once-in-a-generation commitment,” she said.
Sir Keir, speaking ahead of the two-day summit, stated that the UK must navigate this era of uncertainty with agility and a clear understanding of the national interest.
“After all, economic security is national security, and through this strategy, we will bring the entire society together, creating jobs, growth, and wages for working people,” he added.
Nato, made up of 32 member countries, agrees to defend each other in the event of an attack.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and Trump’s re-election as US president last year, members of the organization have faced increased pressure to increase their defense spending.
Countries were expected to spend at least 2% of their national income, or GDP, on defense, although last year only 23 countries met that target, up from three in 2014.
In January, Trump stated that 2% was not enough and that Nato allies should be spending 5%.
And in a speech last year before his re-election, he stated that he would “encourage” aggressors to “do whatever the hell they want” to European allies who do not pay their share.
In February, Sir Keir announced plans to increase the UK’s defense spending, rather than national security spending, to 2.5% by April 2027 and expressed a “clear ambition” to reach 3% by 2034, if economic conditions allow.
According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), based on the current size of the economy, an increase from 2.3% to 2.5% of GDP equates to around £6 billion in additional spending.
On Monday, the government announced that it expects to reach the target of spending 4.1% of GDP on national security by 2027.
The 1.5% element of the 5% Nato target is for “resilience,” such as border security and protection against cyber attacks.
For the UK, this latter element is expected to be met by the year after next, with core defense spending reaching 2.6% by then.
However, reaching 3.5% for core defense spending is not expected until 2035 – two general elections away – and Downing Street has not specified how it will be funded.
Along with the spending commitment, the government released its National Security Strategy, which stated that the UK must be more competitive and robust in science, education, trade, and frontier technology.
The strategy also emphasized that investment in defense would have a direct impact on the pockets of working people, citing the creation of new jobs.
The summit marks Mark Rutte’s first as secretary-general of Nato. Speaking at a press conference on Monday, the former Dutch prime minister stated that the 5% spending commitment was “ambitious, historic, and fundamental to securing our future.”
However, it is unclear how nations will meet the target or if they will at all.
On Sunday evening, Spain claimed that it had secured an opt-out, although this was later denied by Rutte.
Ukraine is not a member of Nato, and although President Volodymyr Zelensky has been invited to the summit dinner, he will not participate in discussions of the North Atlantic Council.
Last week, Ed Arnold from the defense think tank Rusi told the BBC that contentious issues, including a new Russia strategy, had been removed from the summit’s agenda.