SpaceWar.com - Your World At War
UK commits to NATO 5% spending target: Starmer
London, June 23 (AFP) Jun 23, 2025
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Monday that Britain was committed to spending five percent of its economic output on defence, in line with a pledge set to be announced by NATO at a summit in the Netherlands.

In a statement on the eve of the start of the western group's two-day get-together in The Hague, Starmer said his government would aim to hit the pledge by 2035.

"We must navigate this era of radical uncertainty with agility, speed and a clear-eyed sense of the national interest to deliver security for working people and keep them safe," Starmer said.

"This is an opportunity to deepen our commitment to NATO and drive greater investment in the nation's wider security and resilience," he added.

The UK government said it expects NATO's 32 allies to agree to spend at least 3.5 percent of GDP on core military needs by 2035, and 1.5 on broader security-related items like cybersecurity and infrastructure.

The compromise deal aims to placate US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly called for America's allies to dramatically ramp up defence spending.

NATO chief Mark Rutte has said that spending five percent on defence and security is essential to deter Russian aggression.

On Monday, he called the pledge a "quantum leap that is ambitious, historic and fundamental to securing our future".

Starmer had in February pledged to increase core UK defence spending to 2.5 percent of GDP by 2027, and three percent sometime in the early 2030s.


ADVERTISEMENT




Space News from SpaceDaily.com
Chinese researchers craft high fidelity Mars soil simulant to support future missions
Ancient river systems reveal Mars was wetter than we thought
NASA's Parker Solar Probe Snaps Closest-Ever Images to Sun

24/7 Energy News Coverage
One billion Africans being harmed by cooking pollution
US reaches civil nuclear cooperation accord with Bahrain
American firms flag hit from US export controls targeting China

Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense
China, India should work towards 'win-win' cooperation: Chinese FM
US delays Patriot arms deliveries to Switzerland in switch to Ukraine
US 'moving at haste' to get Ukraine weapons: envoy

24/7 News Coverage
New deep sea mining rules lack consensus despite US pressure
Lightning strikes kill 33 people in eastern India
From Antarctica to Brussels, hunting climate clues in old ice



All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.