UK: Prime Minister announces huge 'deviation' of defence budget

UK Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced drastic cuts to Britain’s foreign aid budget to help pay for a huge increase in defence spending. The prime minister said the UK government would increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 — three years earlier than planned — as he prepared for what is likely to be a tense diplomatic visit to Washington this week. Starmer also announced an ambition to increase defence spending to 3% during the next parliamentary term, saying “tyrants” like Vladimir Putin would respond only with force and that the UK must respond to the changed landscape in Ukraine since Trump came to power.

However, the prime minister confirmed that the increase – around €15bn each year from 2027 – would be paid for by a “painful choice” to cut the aid budget from 0.5% to 0.3% of GDP (on the campaign trail, it had promised to increase to 0.7%). The move was met with fury from some Labour MPs, according to the Guardian newspaper. “It’s not an announcement that I’m happy about,” Starmer told MPs. “We will do everything we can to get back to a world where this is not needed, and to rebuild a capacity for development, but at times like this defence and security must always come first. That is the number one priority of this government,” he said.

The total defense budget, including intelligence, will account for 2.6 percent of GDP from 2027, which is still below the 3.4 percent that the United States spends on defense. But it still ranks third among NATO countries, after Poland and Estonia.

The measure will certainly be in Starmer's luggage, as he is traveling to the United States to meet with President Donald Trump – and will certainly please his host. But analysts say the meeting is unlikely to be exactly friendly. Starmer clearly sided with Ukraine and Europe when Trump suggested that the war was the Zelensky government's fault.

Analysts say the prime minister's trip will be the biggest test of his diplomatic and negotiating skills yet as he tries to balance Britain's economic and security interests with the need to maintain good relations with the United States.

Starmer has come under constant pressure to rapidly increase defence spending to above 2.5% of GDP after saying the UK would “play its full part” in sending troops to Ukraine as a peacekeeper in the event of a lasting deal with Russia.