British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Tuesday announced a hike in the country’s defence spending from 2.3 per cent of GDP to hit 2.5 per cent over the next two years, to be funded by cutting the UK’s foreign aid budget.
In a House of Commons statement days before he is scheduled for crunch talks with US President Donald Trump in Washington on Thursday when the Russia-Ukraine conflict will be on top of their agenda, Starmer committed to an extra GBP 13.4 billion on defence every year from 2027.
Trump has repeatedly demanded that the European member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) should be spending more on defence and not relying on America.
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