British Prime Minister Keir Starmer intends to reveal plans to increase defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP in the weeks after Donald Trump takes office as Labour seeks to improve relations with the new US president.
Government insiders, Labour and defence industry sources have told The Telegraph they expect the timetable for reaching the 2.5 per cent rate to be unveiled in spring 2025, just weeks after newly-elected president enters the White House in January.
This will come after the completion of the Strategic Defence Review and possibly at the same time as the announcement of the Ministry of Defence budgets for 2027 and 2028. While the exact date when the UK will reach the 2.5 per cent target has yet to be set, Ben Wallace, a former Conservative Party defence minister, has urged Starmer to reach the target by 2028 and then go even further to reach 3 per cent by 2030.
The measure will be hailed as repairing relations between the United States and Britain during Trump’s presidency, as he has for years criticised European allies for taking advantage of US defence spending and called for increased contributions.
The UK currently spends about 2.2 per cent of GDP on defence a year. This exceeds the 2 per cent target set by NATO for its members and places the UK as the eighth highest spender among alliance’s 32 members. An increase to 2.5 per cent would allow the UK to move up to fourth place in the NATO ranking.
