Cameron urges Nato allies to pledge 2.5% defence spend
NATO countries should agree to spend 2.5% of GDP on defence, Lord Cameron will urge Britain’s allies.
In his first major speech as Foreign Secretary, he will today call on members to “outcompete, out-cooperate and out-innovate” their adversaries in an ongoing “battle of wills”.
Benchmark
Lord Cameron will say July’s summit in Washington “must see all allies on track” to meet the commitment set out in 2014 to spend 2% of GDP on defence and then “move quickly to establish 2.5% as the new benchmark”.
According to Nato, two-thirds of the alliance’s 32 members expected to meet or exceed the 2% target this year, up from 11 in 2023.
In his speech, Lord Cameron is also expected to criticise some of Britain’s allies for not doing enough on defence, saying Nato needs to “adopt a harder edge for a tougher world”.
He will say: “If Putin’s illegal invasion teaches us anything, it must be that doing too little, too late, only spurs an aggressor on.
“I see too many examples in this job of this lesson not having been learnt.
“Take the Red Sea, where ship after ship has been attacked. While many countries have criticised the Houthi attacks, it is only the US and Britain that have been willing and able to step up and strike back at them.”
He is also expected to cite some European countries’ apparent unwillingness to invest in defence “even as war rages on our continent”, and say others are “so cowed by accusations of colonialism that they will not condemn practices like female genital mutilation”.
The speech will be delivered at the National Cyber Security Centre.