Cameron: Britain MUST pay more for defence

We’re among Nato’s leading spenders but we need to do better, he says

BRITAIN will need to increase defence spending to counter the threat posed by Russia, David Cameron said last night.

In an interview with the Daily Mail, the Foreign Secretary said the UK had moved faster than many Nato allies to boost defence spending in recent years – but acknowledged the need to go further.

‘Between 2020 and 2025 we will have increased the defence budget by £24 billion, the largest increase since the Cold War and we have a rising defence budget,’ he said. ‘But as the PM, the Defence Secretary and the Chancellor have all said, we will be spending more and we recognise the need for more defence spending.’

He said he was ‘not going to give you a date’ when spending will hit the 2.5 per cent of GDP seen as a minimum by many defence experts. ‘I believe these things should be decided round the Cabinet table in a collective and confidential way,’ he said. ‘ But you have got a rising defence budget, you have got Britain recognising its responsibilities and a leading member of the 2 per cent club.’

His comments came at a meeting of Nato foreign ministers in Brussels, where he warned member states spending less than the alliance’s minimum of 2 per cent of GDP it was time to ‘ step up and spend more on defence in the face of Russian aggression and a more dangerous world’.

He told the Mail boosting defence spending and getting Nato in ‘the strongest possible shape’ would also help insulate the alliance from the potential impact of a Donald Trump victory in November’s US presidential elections.

‘Whoever the new president is, if they can see Nato is strong and growing and spending at 2 per cent plus and Sweden and Finland

– highly capable countries – are members, the new President will want to invest in that success and be part of that success,’ he said.

‘And ditto with Ukraine. If by the end of this year Putin has lost another few hundred thousand troops, has not gained dramatic amounts of territory, has lost even more of his Black Sea fleet and

you can see Russia is buckling under the strain, then a new or reelected President will see Ukraine is an issue worth investing in.’

Lord Cameron, who acknowledged he is ‘worried’ about war fatigue setting in, will fly to the US next week to try to persuade Congress to unlock $60 billion in military aid and urged fellow foreign ministers to lobby Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson to ‘get that money through’.

‘That is on a knife edge at the moment,’ he said. ‘There is a chance that could go through and that would make a huge difference.’ Ministers have faced

criticism in this country for counting military donations to Ukraine as part of the defence spending total.

But Lord Cameron insisted it was legitimate, adding: ‘I tell my fellow foreign ministers you are not investing in Ukraine’s defence when you send them weapons and money and do what Britain has done... You are investing in your own defence because a Europe in

which Ukraine recovers its territory and Putin suffers a strategic defeat is a far, far safer Europe.

‘ We have a £ 60 billion- a- year defence budget and it is right we are investing a good percentage into defending Ukraine. It’s destroying Russian missiles... Russian tanks, it’s an important strategic adversary of the UK.’

Lord Cameron acknowledged concern the war in Ukraine is

being overshadowed by the crisis in the Middle East but urged Western leaders to ‘show the political will and patience to back this country through difficult times and show Putin that he cannot outlast and out wait us’.

He added: ‘It’s a worry because the news is rightly full of the dreadful things that happened in Gaza and the death of our humanitarian aid workers — and we mourn them. But it’s very important we recognise that the challenge to our security and safety and future is really affected by what happens in Ukraine.’

The Foreign Secretary insisted

DON’T LEAVE BRITAIN DEFENCELESS