Starmer sets out £300bn UK defence plan before expected exit
The UK prime minister said Britain will add £15bn to defence budgets over four years as NATO allies face pressure to spend more.
By Lucas Ferreira · Science & Environment Writer
3 min read
Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced a four-year UK defence programme worth nearly 300 billion pounds as he prepares for an expected departure from office next month, AFP and Reuters reported. The plan is meant to modernise Britain’s armed forces at a time when the government says threats, including from Russia, have increased.
Starmer said on Tuesday that defence funding would rise by an extra 15 billion pounds over four years, taking total spending close to 300 billion pounds, according to AFP and Reuters. The increase equals about $20bn, while the full four-year package is valued at about $397bn.
The Ministry of Defence said the plan includes more than 5 billion pounds, or $6.6bn, for drones and autonomous systems over the same period. Starmer presented the package as a defence investment plan that had been delayed for months while ministers argued over how much money should be committed.
Spending shift across government
Starmer said the government would fund the extra 15 billion pounds by redirecting spending from elsewhere in government, AFP and Reuters reported. He linked the decision to a previous move to shift money from aid to defence, saying that choice had produced the largest defence spending rise since the Cold War ended.
“The world has changed,” Starmer said, according to AFP and Reuters. “National security is economic security.”
The debate over the plan exposed divisions inside Starmer’s Labour government, AFP and Reuters reported. Two defence ministers resigned this month during a dispute over the proposals, including Defence Secretary John Healey, who said the approach risked leaving Britain “less safe.”
Critics said the programme had arrived too late and did not go far enough, according to AFP and Reuters. The plan was delayed for more than nine months before Starmer released it.
NATO pressure ahead of summit
Starmer is due to bring the plan to a NATO summit in Ankara on July 7-8, AFP and Reuters reported. The package would put Britain on course to spend almost 80 billion pounds a year on defence by 2029, equal to about $105.7bn.
The announcement comes as United States President Donald Trump has pressed NATO members to raise defence spending and depend less on Washington for security, according to AFP and Reuters. Starmer wants to show that Britain remains on a path toward spending 3.5 percent of gross domestic product on defence by 2035.
Starmer is expected to leave office in July after losing support among Labour MPs, AFP and Reuters reported. Andy Burnham, described by AFP and Reuters as his likely successor, could take power as early as July 20.
Starmer acknowledged that a new administration could build on the defence blueprint, according to AFP and Reuters. The timing means the plan may become both a policy pledge to NATO allies and an inheritance for the next British government.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.