Every day, Britain’s armed forces are on active service around the world. They put themselves in harm’s way to defend our values and interests and keep our people safe.
Today, they do so in an international environment that is steadily deteriorating. We are seeing more instability, happening more quickly, in more places at once. Russia’s abhorrent war of aggression in Ukraine continues. And crucially, not only are threats to stability growing but the links between states like Russia, Iran, North Korea and China are growing too.
As our adversaries strengthen their ties, the United Kingdom and our allies need to go further to defend our countries, bolster our alliances and deter our adversaries.
That is why last week the Prime Minister announced the biggest strengthening of our national defence in a generation. We will increase our baseline for defence spending to 2.5% of GDP (the size of the economy) by 2030. This new investment starts right away before increasing in each and every year until we meet the target. This means, over the next six years, we will spend an extra £75 billion. This will be fully funded, with no increase in borrowing or debt, alongside a clear plan for what we’ll spend and when we’ll spend it.
As a part of this plan, the Government will be investing at least an additional £10 billion over the next decade on munitions production, delivering high-quality jobs and investment across the UK and ensuring we have rapid production capacity and stockpiles of next-generation munitions.
The UK’s defence procurement will also be radically reformed, with a new Defence Innovation Agency created to ensure the UK is at the cutting edge of modern warfare technology, with at least 5% of the defence budget to be committed to R&D.
Finally, to support Ukraine’s struggle, the Government will commit an additional £500 million this year for the ammunition, air defence and drones Ukraine needs; the largest-ever single delivery of military equipment to Ukraine’s frontlines; and a cast-iron commitment to maintain existing levels of support to Ukraine for as long as it is needed.
It is the Government’s hope that this announcement will mark a turning point in the security and defence of Europe. If all our allies met our new baseline of spending 2.5% of GDP on defence, the combined NATO budget would rise by over £140 billion. From Poland to the Baltic States, Norway to Germany and Romania, this message is increasingly understood.
In a world of increasing threats, the United Kingdom will always stand up for our interests, deter our enemies, and defend our values.
I believe we must do more to defend our country, our interests, and our values.
That starts today. pic.twitter.com/M2IrGOR21G
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) April 23, 2024
This column was first published in The Forester newspaper.