Rishi Sunak to promise UK defence spending boost by 2030

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Rishi Sunak is expected to pledge to lift UK defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP by the end of the decade and argue the increase is necessary because the world is in its most dangerous state since the end of the cold war.

The pledge would mean UK defence spending rising gradually from 2.32 per cent of GDP to 2.5 per cent by 2030.

The announcement is expected at a joint press conference in Warsaw on Tuesday with Jens Stoltenberg, director-general of Nato.

The opposition Labour party, which is leading in the opinion polls ahead of the upcoming general election, has vowed to lift defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP only “as soon as resources allow”.

Sunak has faced months of demands from some of his own Conservative MPs, including defence secretary Grant Shapps, to lift military spending further to counter the threat from Russia.

He will tout the promised spending increase, made despite severe constraints on the UK public finances, as the “biggest strengthening of our national defence in a generation”.

Parliament’s public accounts committee warned last month that the Ministry of Defence has a £17bn gap in its plans to equip the military over the next 10 years.

Former armed forces minister James Heappey has also argued that the UK should increase defence spending to 2.5 per cent this year and pledge to reach 3 per cent beyond that.

Shapps has said the extra spending would be used to focus on key high-tech capabilities such as air defence missiles and British production of 155mm artillery ammunition.

On Wednesday, Sunak will meet Olaf Scholz, chancellor of Germany, which is spending 2 per cent of GDP on defence this year. 

The UK prime minister announced overnight that the UK would give a further £500mn of military assistance to Ukraine in this financial year, taking the total to £3bn.

Also on Tuesday, Sunak appointed the vice-chief of the defence staff General Gwyn Jenkins as his new national security adviser.

He announced the appointment on Tuesday after the Financial Times reported that Sir Tim Barrow, who has held the role since 2022, would become the next UK ambassador to the US.

Barrow’s move has angered the opposition Labour party, which has argued that the decision over the most senior posting in the British diplomatic service should have been left until after the upcoming general election.

Dame Karen Pierce, the current UK ambassador to the US, will remain in post until the end of the year before handing over to Barrow, a career diplomat, according to officials. 

Sunak, en route to Warsaw, told reporters on Tuesday: “The ambassadorial or diplomatic appointments are always made in the usual way, which they will be.”

He added it was “entirely normal for those to be made in advance . . . entirely keeping with precedent because ambassadors-designate often go and acclimatise themselves and build relationships before they formally start”.

Sunak said the appointment of Jenkins marked the first time that a military officer had filled the role of national security adviser. He will take up the post in the summer.