UK to raise defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027, Starmer says.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Tuesday pledged to boost defence spending to 2.5 per cent of the economy by 2027 with the aim of hiking it to 3 per cent in the next parliament.

Ahead of key talks on Ukraine with US President Donald Trump in Washington on Thursday, Starmer told parliament the increase would be funded by cutting overseas development aid from 0.5 per cent to 0.3 per cent of the economy.

Trump has demanded that Nato allies more than double their defence spending targets to five per cent of economic output.

The UK spent 2.3 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) on defence in 2023/24.

Starmer’s Labour government had previously committed to increasing defence spending to 2.5 per cent, but had not set a timeline.

He told lawmakers there would be some “hard choices” but it would be the “biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War”.

Source: SCMP