Nato boss urges UK to set 'credible' path to increase Royal Navy funds as he addresses welfare argument
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The government is under pressure to better support the armed forces amid growing threats from Russia and elsewhere
The UK needs a “credible path” towards hitting its Nato defence spending target – with increases every year, the alliance’s chief Mark Rutte has said.
The Nato secretary general told the Press Association that members of the defensive alliance “have to stick to that path” towards allocating 3.5% of gross domestic product – a measure of the size of the economy – for core defence spending by 2035, and set out “yearly increments”. It comes as prime minister Andy Burnham is under political pressure to show how the UK will meet that goal.
The government has so far only budgeted to hike defence spending to 2.7 per cent of GDP by 2027/28, but there are no firm details on how further increases will be achieved beyond that date. Mr Rutte said reaching the 3.5 per cent target could not happen immediately because Nato countries needed time to expand their armed forces and defence industries.
He added: “You cannot spend it today, but you can also not wait ’til 2035. And that is why you need a credible path towards that 3.5 per cent, and yearly increments.”
Warning about the threat from Russian President Vladimir Putin after a spate of hybrid attacks on European soil, Mr Rutte said: “Let’s not be naive about what he might do against Nato.” With Mr Putin willing to “sacrifice 1.2 million of his own people in Ukraine” and spend 50 per cent of his state budget on defence, “we have to make sure that we stay ahead of them”, he said.
“I think we are on the right path now to make sure that also going forward we stay ahead of the Russians. But again, that means that all of us, the UK and all the others, have to to stick to that path to the 3.5 per cent with yearly increments.”
Chancellor John Healey quit as defence secretary in Sir Keir Starmer’s administration in a row over funding, arguing that it was necessary to reach three per cent by 2030. He has since appeared unwilling to recommit to the interim target and said he will set out the timetable for spending 3.5 per cent of GDP on defence by 2035 at next year’s spending review. Mr Rutte praised Mr Burnham’s government for its commitment to the Nato goal, and hopes the spending review will outline how to get there.
He added that allies could not “in 2034 do in one step” the increase to 3.5 per cent from the current level of defence spending, and that there “has to be a glide path”. Mr Burnham drew criticism in the House of Commons after stating that funding national security will not come at the expense of social security.
Asked by the BBC whether countries can boost defence spending alongside a spiralling benefits bill, Mr Rutte said: “I think these are two separate issues.
“One issue is you have to make sure that the money is there to spend on defence. The other issue is the general issue for every government to make sure that you have economic growth. So some governments will put in place reforms to get more economic growth etc and to make sure that you manage the public finances. That is what this government will do, no doubt.”
When pressed on whether defence and welfare spending are connected, he said: “Theoretically, if you have enough economic growth because your economy is growing, you could do both.”