Huge boost to UK defence spending - as Starmer hits out at 'tyrant' Putin

Sir Keir Starmer has said he wants to increase UK defence spending to 3% in the next parliament - ahead of his White House meeting with Donald Trump.

The prime minister, in an unexpected statement in parliament, announced spending would be increased to 2.5% of the UK's GDP by 2027 from the current 2.3%.

He said he wants defence spending to increase to 3% of GDP in the next parliament, but that would mean Labour winning the next election, set for 2029.

The number is much lower than the US president has demanded NATO members spend on defence, with Mr Trump saying they should all be spending 5% - an amount last seen in the Cold War.

Sir Keir also announced the government would cut back on foreign aid to fund the increase, reducing current spending from 0.5% of GDP to 0.3%.

Moments before the announcement, the Foreign Office said it was pausing some aid to Rwanda due to its role in the conflict in neighbouring Congo.

Sir Keir said the reduction in foreign aid is "not a renouncement I'm happy to make".

He reiterated the government's commitment to NATO, which he described as the "bedrock of our security", and criticised Russian president Vladimir Putin, saying "tyrants only respond to strength".

Addressing his upcoming visit to the White House to meet Mr Trump, he said he wants the UK's relationship with the US to go from "strength to strength".

Labour promised in their manifesto to increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP from the current 2.3%, however, ministers have previously refused to set out a timeline.

They previously insisted a "path" to get to 2.5% would be set out after a defence spending review is published this spring.

However, after Donald Trump came to power in January, all European governments have faced increasing pressure to raise defence spending immediately.

Mr Trump wants them to raise it to 5% of GDP - something which was last achieved during the Cold War.

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