‘No doubt’ UK will spend three per cent of GDP on defence by mid-2030s, Healey says
Defence spending at three per cent of GDP by 2034 is a firm commitment, John Healey has said.
The government has previously set out its “ambition to reach three per cent in the next parliament”, after meeting its pledge to ratchet up defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP by April 2027.
But the defence secretary has promised a “certain decade of rising defence spending”, according to The Times, and said there was “no doubt” the UK would meet its target.
Healey told the newspaper: “It allows us to plan for the long term. It allows us to deal with the pressures.”
The government is looking at the roles, capabilities and reforms required by UK armed forces as part of its strategic defence review (SDR).
It will explore “deliverable and affordable” solutions “within the resources available to defence within the trajectory of 2.5 per cent”.
When he announced the targets earlier this year, prime minister Keir Starmer said: “In an ever more dangerous world, increasing the resilience of our country so we can protect the British people, resist future shocks and bolster British interests, is vital.”
The new defence money will be found by reducing UK overseas aid from 0.5 per cent to 0.3 per cent of GNI (gross national income), according to the government, a move which prompted then-international development minister Anneliese Dodds to resign.
“You have maintained that you want to continue support for Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine; for vaccination; for climate; and for rules-based systems,” she told Starmer.
“Yet it will be impossible to maintain these priorities given the depth of the cut.”
Nato heads of government are set to meet in The Hague, in the Netherlands, next month.
Addressing the alliance’s parliamentary assembly in Dayton, USA this month, Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte said: “I assume that in The Hague we will agree on a high defence spend target of, in total, five per cent.”
A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: “This government has announced the largest sustained increase to defence spending since the end of the Cold War – 2.5 per cent by 2027 and three per cent in the next parliament when fiscal and economic conditions allow, including an extra £5bn this financial year.
“The SDR will rightly set the vision for how that uplift will be spent, including new capabilities to put us at the leading edge of innovation in Nato, investment in our people and making defence an engine for growth across the UK – making Britain more secure at home and strong abroad.”
By Will Durrant, PA Political Staff