Stuart Anderson MP has welcomed the recent announcement from the Prime Minister that defence spending will rise to 3.5% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The Prime Minister made the announcement after a meeting of NATO in The Hague, Netherlands this week. NATO is a political and military alliance of members from the either side of the Atlantic, in particular with the commitment for the collective defence of members as laid out in Article 5.
In order to maintain the military readiness of this alliance, NATO in 2014 called for all its members to agree to spend 2% of GDP on defence spending. This commitment was expected to be reviewed and updated in NATO Summit in The Hague, to meet the increased global threats faced by NATO and the expected threats in the future.
On June 2, Stuart warned the Defence Secretary that the Government’s then commitment to spend 3% GDP, made after the publication of the Strategic Defence Review, would not be seen as a credible commitment by NATO. Indeed, NATO announced only the next day that countries would be asked at The Hague summit to commit to 3.5% of GDP to defence, with a further 1.5% GDP on defence-related spending.
In Parliament on June 2, Stuart said:
I do welcome the NATO-first strategy in the SDR, and that we are looking to lead within NATO. Last week I was in Dayton, Ohio on the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, where the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, said 3% will not be a credible solution to defence –he’s going to set this out in the NATO summit – and that 3.5% was required to be credible, with 1.5% on defence-related funding, that is going to be set out this month. Will the Defence Secretary, if this is what NATO say is a credible commitment, commit to 3.5%?
In reply, the Defence Secretary Rt Hon John Healey MP said:
“Those discussions are for the NATO summit later this month. We go into that summit having made a record commitment to invest and to increase defence spending, in two years’ time, to a level that we have not seen in this country since 2010, with an aim to get to 3% in the next Parliament..”
In The Hague Summit Declaration, NATO Heads of State and Government reaffirmed their commitment to Article 5, that ‘an attack on one is an attack on all’ and announced the expected commitment to spend 5% of GDP on defence and defence and security-related spending by 2035. The Prime Minister, Sir Kier Starmer, announced the commitment in addition to the purchase of 12 F-35 jets with nuclear capabilities. Starmer added to this that the UK will reach at least 4.1% of GDP spending on defence and defence-related spending by 2027. Stuart has added that Ministers must now provide a clear timeline to show how their plan is fully funded, as they have not yet explained how they will even reach three per cent of GDP by the end of the current Parliament in 2029.
Stuart Anderson MP said:
“As I warned just weeks ago, the government’s previous pledge was simply not a credible solution. My visit to Ohio with the NATO Parliamentary Assembly made clear that Ministers would have to soon change position. So, it was unfortunate that they made an announcement which so quickly became out of date. I am glad that they have accepted my request and agreed to spend 3.5% of GDP on defence. This is in line with our NATO allies. Now that they have caught up, Ministers must make their spending plans clear. This is vital to fully address the security threats that we face.”
