Boris Johnson has urged NATO allies to "dig deeper" and spend more on defence, warning of increased threats to the West over the next decade.
Ahead of a NATO summit in Madrid on Wednesday, the prime minister told Britain's Western allies they needed to step up military investment to deter Russian aggression.
But despite exceeding the target that NATO members should spend at least 2% of their national GDP on defence, Johnson was forced to defend Britain's own defence spending after it emerged that the UK might fail to comply with the 2019 Conservative Party manifesto to expand defence spending. The new parliament will raise the defense budget by 0.5% per year above inflation.
With inflation soaring to a 40-year high of 9.1% in May, it means the defense budget will increase by 10% this year, putting more pressure on already strained government finances.
Boris Johnson has urged NATO allies to "dig deeper" and spend more on defence, warning of increased threats to the West over the next decade.
Ahead of a NATO summit in Madrid on Wednesday, the prime minister told Britain's Western allies they needed to step up military investment to deter Russian aggression.
But despite exceeding the target that NATO members should spend at least 2% of their national GDP on defence, Johnson was forced to defend Britain's own defence spending after it emerged that the UK might fail to comply with the 2019 Conservative Party manifesto to expand defence spending. The new parliament will raise the defense budget by 0.5% per year above inflation.
With inflation soaring to a 40-year high of 9.1% in May, it means the defense budget will increase by 10% this year, putting more pressure on already strained government finances.
The British prime minister is expected to announce a series of new commitments to strengthen the NATO alliance on Wednesday as part of a sharp increase in NATO's military presence to defend Europe's eastern flank.
These include expanding the UK's national headquarters in Estonia to ensure it can provide rapid reinforcements and a highly-ready force when needed, and further increasing the lethality of forces already stationed in Estonia through the use of capabilities such as artillery, air defence and helicopters.
The government says these new investments, along with unprecedented support for Ukraine, are expected to hit £1.3bn and are expected to boost UK defence spending as a percentage of GDP this year to around 2% to 3% - making the UK a European leader again this year Defense spenders.
Before arriving in Madrid, Mr Johnson said the government would honour its manifesto commitments on defence.
"We've been well above that target for some time now," he said, referring to inflation that was 0.5 percent higher. "We're confident we'll get there, not looking at inflation as a single data point, but looking at it over the life of parliament, and I'm confident we'll get there.
He added: "Last year we were the third largest defence spender in the world and on the basis of the current spending review we spent another £24bn, the largest since the end of the Cold War. We are currently 2.3% of GDP on defence ."
NATO's assessment released this week shows that UK defence spending is estimated at 2.26% of GDP in 2021 and is on track to reach 2.12% by 2022.
Currently, only nine of NATO's 30 members have reached the 2 percent target, but the other 19 have pledged to increase spending to that level over the next few years.
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