Keir Starmer tonight declared Britain is entering an ‘era of hard power’, as he slashed foreign aid to boost defence spending.
The Prime Minister announced the Government will meet its manifesto pledge to raise the military budget to 2.5 per cent of GDP two years early – and set a new ambition to hit 3 per cent in the first half of the next decade.
It came as Sir Keir prepares to fly to Washington for crunch talks with Donald Trump, who has told Nato countries they must spend far more on defence if they want to continue receiving American military back-up.
The £6billion-a-year boost by 2027 is a major victory for the Mail’s Don’t Leave Britain Defenceless campaign. It will be paid for by an equivalent cut in Britain’s foreign aid budget, taking it to its lowest level since the 1990s.
The move provoked an angry backlash from charities and Labour MPs, with former foreign secretary David Miliband warning it was ‘a blow to Britain’s proud reputation as a global humanitarian and development leader’.
Charity ActionAid, which works with women and girls living in poverty, said it was ‘profoundly shocked and disappointed’, while Water Aid called the shift in policy a ‘cruel betrayal’ of impoverished people.
Save the Children UK said it was ‘stunned’ by Sir Keir’s decision, labelling it ‘a betrayal of the world’s most vulnerable children and the UK’s national interest’.
Writing in the Daily Mail today, Sir Keir said cutting the aid budget was ‘not an announcement I make lightly’ as Britain had ‘a proud tradition as a force for good in the world’.
But he said the deteriorating world order posed a ‘generational’ challenge. ‘The realities of our dangerous new era mean that hard power must now take precedence,’ he said. ‘The national security of our country must always come first.’
The PM said Britain ‘cannot hide’ from the growing threat posed by Russia and other hostile states. It came as:
Critics tonight warned the rise in defence spending is not enough at a time when Sir Keir is offering to send thousands of troops to act as peacekeepers in Ukraine.
Former Tory defence secretary Sir Ben Wallace described the rise of an extra 0.2 per cent of GDP for defence as a ‘staggering desertion of leadership’. He said Sir Keir was ‘tone deaf to the dangers of the world and demands of the United States’, adding: ‘Such a weak commitment to our security and nation puts us all at risk.’
However, the decision to raise spending to 2.5 per cent by 2027 is sooner than the previous government’s target of 2030.
Former British Army chief Lord Dannatt welcomed the pledge as a ‘significant step in the right direction’. He said the timing of the announcement would give the PM ‘a slightly easier ride’ when he meets Mr Trump at the White House tomorrow.
He added: ‘When we’re faced with our key partner, the US, wanting to do less to secure Europe, we’ve got our principal foe, if you like, Vladimir Putin, a proven aggressor, continuing his war in Ukraine, it doesn’t take much to realise that we’ve got to spend more on our own defence.’
But it came as the British Army was said to be the ‘laughing stock’ of Nato because its outdated rifles could not kill Russian or Chinese soldiers wearing advanced body armour.
The Army still uses the L115A3 ‘sniper’ rifle, while other armed forces have updated their kit, a serving senior officer said, adding: ‘The Europeans used to love all of our kit, but now laugh at it.’
Sir Keir is thought to have made the decision to raise defence spending a fortnight ago as he prepared for his meeting with the US President. But it was kept a tight secret, with even some members of the Cabinet blindsided by the announcement yesterday.
Foreign aid minister Anneliese Dodds was only told on Monday her budget would be slashed.
The move was welcomed by US defence secretary Pete Hegseth as a ‘strong step from an enduring partner’. But the PM faced criticism at home for claiming the move would mean ‘spending £13.4billion more on defence every year from 2027’. The Institute for Fiscal Studies said the figure was misleading, as the real increase after taking account of inflation was closer to £6billion.
Government sources accepted that although spending will rise in cash terms by £13.4billion, the real increase is around £6 billion.
Aid spending will be cut from 0.5 per cent of national income to 0.3 per cent, releasing £6billion to pay for the extra defence spending.
Kemi Badenoch welcomed the move, but urged the PM to scrap the plan to hand over the Chagos Islands, paying £9billion to lease back the military base at Diego Garcia. Government sources were unable to say if the cost of the deal will come from the defence budget.