UK considering bringing forward 3 per cent defence spending target

PRIME MINISTER Keir Starmer is considering a significant increase in defence spending.

Downing Street is looking at meeting an existing spending target earlier than planned, at a potential cost of billions of pounds, the BBC reported.

Starmer promised last year to spend 2.5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) on core defence by April 2027, and set out an “ambition” to increase that to 3 per cent of GDP in the next parliament.

The BBC has been told the prime minister’s aides are now examining proposals to meet that 3 per cent ambition by the end of the current parliament, which could last until 2029. No decision has been taken and the Treasury is said to be cautious.

The idea was discussed at a meeting earlier this month linked to the long-delayed “defence investment plan”. Reports last month suggested the Ministry of Defence needed an extra £28bn to meet existing costs over the next four years.

The Office for Budget Responsibility calculated in March last year that increasing defence spending to 3 per cent of GDP would cost an additional £17.3bn per year by 2029-30.

Bee Boileau, research economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, estimated the extra needed would be less, about £13-14bn, once existing spending increases were taken into account, the BBC reported.

In Munich on Saturday, Starmer said: “To meet the wider threat, it’s clear that we are going to have to spend more, faster.”

A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: “We do not comment on speculation.”