Keir Starmer / ITV News
The United Kingdom is falling in line with President Donald Trump’s demand that European countries pay their fair share on defense.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced on Tuesday that his government would raise its military spending to 2.5 percent of GDP by 2027 and to three percent by the end of the next government’s term.
“This government will begin the biggest sustained increase in defense spending since the end of the Cold War,” Starmer said.
Britain will increase its defense spending to the equivalent of 2.5% of GDP by 2027, and to 3% in the next parliament, Prime Minister Keir Starmer tells Parliament https://t.co/HhXf4XiGPW pic.twitter.com/J7k8Dt4FVd
— Bloomberg TV (@BloombergTV) February 25, 2025
“We must change our national security posture because a generational challenge demands a generational response.”
The Labour leader added that the increase would be partly funded by reducing the foreign aid budget from 0.5 to 0.3 percent, explaining that spending increases “can only be funded through hard choices.”
“At times like this, the defense and security of the British people must always come first,” he said.
“One of the great lessons of our history is that instability in Europe will always wash up on our shores, and that tyrants like Putin only respond to strength.”
”Russia is a menace in our waters, in our airspace and on our streets,” he added.
The commitment comes as Starmer prepares to travel to Washington, D.C., to meet with Trump, where the issue of Ukraine and defense will be top of the agenda.
“This week, when I meet President Trump, I will be clear: I want this relationship to go from strength to strength,” Starmer said.
“We must change our national security posture, because a generational challenge requires a generational response, that will demand some extremely difficult and painful choices,” he continued.
“And through those choices, as hard as they are, we must also seek unity, a whole society effort that will reach into the lives, the industries, and the homes of the British people.”
The two men already met before the presidential election, with Trump describing him as a “very nice guy.”
Also present at the meeting was David Lammy, the UK Foreign Secretary who has likened Trump to the KKK.
THE SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP? Britain’s New Foreign Secretary Called Donald Trump a ‘Neo-Nazi-Sympathizing Sociopath,’ Joined Protests During His State Visit
However, Trump recently criticized Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron for failing to bring the conflict between Russia and Ukraine to a peaceful conclusion.
“They didn’t do anything either (to end the war),” Trump said about the two leaders. The war’s going on, no meetings with Russia, no nothing. “
”They haven’t done anything. Macron is a friend of mine, and I’ve met with the Prime Minister and he’s a very nice guy (but) nobody’s done anything.”
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