PM in spend more plea to Nato
Allies must find extra defence cash, says PM... as he breaks own promise to UK military
BORIS Johnson will today tell fellow Nato leaders to up their defence spending just as he faces a Cabinet row at home over the budget for British Armed Forces.
At a summit in Madrid, the Prime Minister will demand that countries ‘dig deep’ to meet the threat posed by Vladimir Putin, warning of a dangerous decade ahead.
He will call for the alliance to look at raising its target of spending 2 per cent of national income on defence.
But Mr Johnson last night admitted he is abandoning a commitment he made at the last election to increase the UK defence budget faster than inflation each year.
It puts him on a collision course with Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss who both want a substantial increase in spending in response to the war in Ukraine.
In an extraordinary intervention yesterday, Mr Wallace warned there was a ‘real risk’ Russia could ‘lash out’ against the UK and its European allies.
The Defence Secretary said the British military had for too long had to survive on ‘a diet of smoke and mirrors, hollowed- out formations and fantasy savings’.
He insisted the UK’s defence budget should rise from 2 per cent to 2.5 per cent by 2028, an extra £10billion a year. Asked about Mr Wallace’s remarks in the Commons, Miss Truss said: ‘I agree with [his] concerns. The free world did not spend enough on defence post the Cold War and we are now paying the consequences.’
It is understood Mr Wallace has submitted a formal letter to Mr Johnson calling for a 20 per cent increase in defence spending to make up for shortfalls in capability and counter the growing threat.
In the 2019 Conservative manifesto, the party pledged to raise defence spending by 0.5 per cent above the rate of inflation each year. With inflation set
to hit 11 per cent this year and the public finances battered by the impact of the pandemic, government sources admitted the promise would be dropped.
Mr Johnson yesterday insisted the spending would increase by more than inflation over the course of five years to 2024.
Defending his record, he said the UK had consistently met Nato’s 2 per cent target and was about to begin talks with other nations on raising this.
Speaking on the flight to Madrid, he told reporters: ‘we’re delivering record increases in defence spending – £24billion more [over four years] – the biggest increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold war.
‘Last year, 2021, the UK was the third biggest defence spender in the world and we are already comfortably above the 2 per cent. we’re at 2.3 per cent.’
Nato’s own assessment published this week indicated that the UK spent an estimated 2.26 per cent of GDP on defence in 2021 and was on course for 2.12 per cent in 2022.
Mr Johnson said he would ask fellow leaders to begin discussions on raising the 2 per cent target, which has so far only been met by nine members of the 30-strong alliance.
‘I think that we will have to have a conversation at Nato about where we go next,’ he said.‘That’s something that we’ll be talking about to friends and colleagues.’
Ahead of the summit, emmanuel Macron said yesterday that Russia cannot be allowed to win the war in Ukraine.
The French president told a news conference: ‘I really hope that the end [ of the conflict] can be achieved by the end of the year, with a certainty and a desire, which is that Russia cannot and must not win.’
Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, said: ‘There is only one way out: for Putin to accept that his plans in Ukraine will not succeed.’
A senior government source defended the ditching of the Tory manifesto target to increase UK defence spending above inflation.
They said: ‘The manifesto was written before £400billion had to be spent locking people up for their own safety because of the global pandemic.
‘There is a reality check on things that were offered in a different age which is the only reasonable thing that we can expect.’
Mr Johnson will also announce today that Britain will send further troops to estonia to help reinforce Nato’s eastern flank.
They will form part of a new 300,000- strong force, reacting against any Russian incursion, that leaders will agree on this week.
‘We’re delivering record increases’