UK announces ‘biggest defense budget boost in a generation’

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UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged to raise defense spending to 2.5% of economic output by 2030, in what he described as “the biggest strengthening of our national defense for a generation” amid a rising number of conflicts around the world.

The plan will raise the country’s defense spending by more than £75 billion ($90 billion) over the next six years, and comes after months of pressure from conservative MPs and European partners.

At a press conference in Warsaw, Sunak said the pledge to raise defense spending from the current 2.32% of GDP would put the UK on “a war footing,” allowing the UK to reinvigorate its defense industrial base and modernize its armed forces.

“In a world that is the most dangerous it has been since the end of the Cold War, we cannot be complacent,” Sunak said. “As our adversaries align, we must do more to defend our country, our interests, and our values.”

The prime minister also announced an extra $600 million in Ukraine aid, which will provide Kyiv with four million rounds of ammunition, 400 vehicles, and an unspecified number of long-range Storm Shadow missiles.

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Tight budgets put the squeeze on spending increases

Sources:  Resolution Foundation, Institute for Fiscal Studies, The Guardian

While the defense pledge was launched to much fanfare, policy analysts were quick to raise questions about how it would be paid for. “This is a lot easier to announce than deliver,” the Resolution Foundation’s Torsten Bell wrote on X, noting that it remains unclear how the pledge will be funded given the UK’s existing budget deficit. The government will likely have to make cuts in other spending areas to finance the defense surge, said The Institute for Fiscal Studies’ Ben Zaranko.,But, as The Guardian noted, the defense pledge includes items such as money spent on Ukraine aid, meaning that the core budget increase for the Ministry of Defense is less that it might appear at first glance.

Conservatives unlikely to remain in power to see pledge through

Sources:  The Economist, i newspaper

While the ruling Conservatives made the spending pledge, they are unlikely to remain in power long enough to see it through, making Labour the party most likely to decide the country’s future defense budget. The main opposition party commands a dominant lead in the polls, with a general election expected by the end of this year. Labour leader Keir Starmer has said he supports spending 2.5% of GDP on defense, but has promised a major review if his party takes power to see how money is best spent. Labour’s Shadow Defense Secretary John Healey reacted with caution to the plan. “Since 2010, the Conservatives have wasted more than £15 billion mismanaging defense procurement, shrunk the Army to its smallest size since Napoleon, missed their recruitment targets every year, and allowed morale to fall to record lows,” he wrote on X.