UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is backing a call by the US President-elect Donald Trump for European NATO countries to raise their military spending. Speaking to LBC News, Starmer argued that “Europe needs to do more” when it comes to military expenditure.
With Trump due to return to the White House in January, he has called on European allies to raise their defense spending, saying it was unfair for the United States to pay the lion’s share of defense costs. Starmer said he had “constructive discussions” with Trump on a range of issues, including military cooperation.
Having met Trump several weeks ago, Starmer said he agrees that Europe needs to do more for defense. “When he says that Europe needs to do more, I think that’s right, and we should do more,” Starmer said, while offering recognition for current capability shared across NATO allies.
NATO countries are supposed to spend a minimum of 2% of their GDP on defense, a threshold most have not met or are behind on, especially with the current invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Countries like Portugal, Italy, Canada, Belgium, Luxembourg, Slovenia, and Spain currently spend less than 2% of their GDP on defense. The UK ranks ninth in terms of defense spending proportional to its GDP, with Poland leading at 4.1% and the US at approximately 3.4%.
The US is still, in absolute terms, the biggest contributor, along with Germany, of about 16% in total. Asked if all its members should “pay their way,” Starmer resisted imposing conditions on allies: “All of our allied countries make a significant contribution to our collective defense.” He added that if Russian President Vladimir Putin believed his aggression in Ukraine would weaken NATO, it was a grave miscalculation.
Starmer pointed out that NATO has grown “stronger” since the outbreak of conflict in Ukraine, adding new members and continuing military cooperation. “We have extra members, and we are constantly working together-training together, deployed together,” he said.
While praising the military in its efforts against the threat at the gates, as Starmer described Russia, he refused to commit to the 3% defense spending target, instead talking of collective action. He again promised that the government would increase defense spending to 2.5% of GDP.
This comes a week after a warning by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who pointed to the West’s being totally unprepared for any threat from Russia in the years ahead. Rutte said that the security climate is the “worst in my lifetime,” and he urged all of NATO to adopt a “wartime mindset” of significantly increasing their spending on defense.
A few days ago, Chancellor Rachel Reeves suggested that Labour cannot increase spending on defense without cuts elsewhere.
