LONDON — The U.K. is about to see the biggest increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War as it seeks to send “a message to Moscow,” the British defence secretary said Sunday.
John Healey said the Labour government’s current plans for defence spending will be enough to transform the country’s military following decades of retrenchment, though he does not expect the number of soldiers — currently at a historic low — to rise until the early 2030s.
He said plans for defence spending to hit 2.5 per cent of national income by 2027, which amounts to an extra 13 billion pounds (US$17 billion) or so a year, were “on track” and that there was “no doubt” it would hit three per cent in the next parliament in the early 2030s.
The government will on Monday respond to a strategic defence review, overseen by Healey and led by Lord George Robertson, a former NATO secretary general and defence secretary in a previous Labour government.
It is expected to be the most consequential review since the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, and make a series of recommendations for the U.K. to deal with the new threat environment, both on the military front and in cyberspace.
Like other NATO members, the U.K. has been compelled to take a closer look at its defence spending since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
“This is a message to Moscow,” Healey told the BBC. “This is Britain standing behind, making our armed forces stronger but making our industrial base stronger, and this is part of our readiness to fight, if required.”
U.S. President Donald Trump has also piled pressure on NATO members to bolster their defence spending. And in recent months, European countries, led by the U.K. and France, have scrambled to coordinate their defence posture as Trump transforms American foreign policy, seemingly sidelining Europe as he looks to end the war in Ukraine. Trump has long questioned the value of NATO and complained that the U.S. provides security to European countries that don’t pull their weight.
Healey also said Russia is “attacking the U.K. daily” as part of some 90,000 cyber attacks from state-linked sources that were directed at the U.K,’s defence over the last two years. A cyber command to counter such threats is expected to be set up as part of the review.
“The tensions are greater but we prepare for war in order to secure the peace,” he said. “If you’re strong enough to defeat an enemy, you deter them from attacking in the first place.”
While on a visit to a factory on Saturday where Storm Shadow missiles are assembled, Healey said the government would support the procurement of up to 7,000 U.K.-built long-range weapons and that new funding will see U.K. munitions spending hitting 6 billion pounds in the coming years.
“Six billion over the next five years in factories like this which allow us not just to produce the munitions that equip our forces for the future but to create the jobs in every part of the U.K.,” he said.
Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary for the main opposition Conservative Party, welcomed the government’s pledge to increase defence spending but said he was “skeptical” as to whether the Treasury would deliver. He called on the government to be more ambitious and raise spending to three per cent of national income within this parliament, which can run until 2029.
“We think that 2034 is a long time to wait, given the gravity of the situation,” he told Sky News.
Pan Pylas, The Associated Press
