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U.K. to Raise Military Spending to 2.5% of G.D.P. by 2027, Starmer Says
Prime Minister Keir Starmer set out a timeline to increase British spending on defense, now 2.3 percent. He is scheduled to meet with President Trump this week.
Stephen Castle and Mark Landler
Reporting from London
Britain on Tuesday announced a landmark increase in military spending, seeking to send a powerful signal about burden sharing to President Trump before Prime Minister Keir Starmer meets him at the White House on Thursday.
Speaking to Parliament, Mr. Starmer said Britain would raise its military spending to 2.5 percent of gross domestic value by 2027, and to 3 percent by the end of the next government’s term, which would mean by 2034 at the latest. Britain, he said, would finance the massive new expenditure by scaling back spending on development.
The Labour government had previously promised to raise expenditure to 2.5 percent of economic output, from a current level of 2.3 percent, but had not given a date by which it would do so. The move would amount to an increase in expenditure of 13.4 billion pounds ($17 billion) a year on defense between now and 2027.
“We must change our national security posture because a generational challenge demands a generational response,” Mr. Starmer said.
Mr. Starmer said the change would be funded by cutting overseas development aid from 0.5 percent of gross domestic product to 0.3 percent, adding that he regretted the reduction. “At times like this, the defense and security of the British people must always come first,” he said.
Mr. Trump has long demanded that European allies contribute more to Europe’s defense. NATO’s secretary general, Mark Rutte, recently called on NATO members to spend “considerably more” than 3 percent of economic output on defense.
Mr. Starmer reiterated the centrality of NATO and the trans-Atlantic alliance to Europe’s security. That drew a distinction with the likely new chancellor of Germany, Friedrich Merz, who said after his party’s election victory on Sunday that Europe would have to stake out a security strategy independent of the United States.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Stephen Castle is a London correspondent of The Times, writing widely about Britain, its politics and the country’s relationship with Europe. More about Stephen Castle
Mark Landler is the London bureau chief of The Times, covering the United Kingdom, as well as American foreign policy in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. He has been a journalist for more than three decades. More about Mark Landler
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