Ministers need to set out a “clear timetable” to reach defence spending of 2.5 per cent GDP to reassure Donald Trump about the UK’s commitment to Nato, senior MPs have warned.
The calls came amid reports that an announcement of when the target will be reached has been pushed back to coincide with Rachel Reeves’s first spending review in June 2025.
MPs have warned that president-elect Trump and other Nato leaders need reassurance now that there is a firm date for the 2.5 per cent commitment to be met, amid escalating conflict and global instability.
Sir Keir Starmer pledged on Monday that there would be a “clear pathway” to the target – but failed to spell out when that would be announced.
Tan Dhesi, the Labour chairman of the Defence Select Committee, said there was “no reason” why the Government could not be more open about when it intends to reach the target.
And former defence minister Tobias Ellwood said the UK needed to lead by example as the next largest military force in Nato after the US.
Ministers had previously said that an announcement on when the 2.5 per cent target would be met would be made after the publication of the Strategic Defence Review, which is due in spring 2025.
But Politico reported on Monday that this announcement was likely to be closer to June, around the time of the Chancellor’s spending review and six months from now.
Defence Secretary John Healey, asked about the reports, said the Government had made a “cast iron commitment” to set out next spring the path to 2.5 per cent.
Dhesi said: “In an increasingly dangerous world, with conflicts raging, including on our European Continent, the Government should provide a clear timetable for when it intends to meet its commitment to spend 2.5 per cent of GDP on defence.
“This clarity would help our Nato allies overseas, as well as the defence community and our UK industrial base.
“The Defence Secretary told me last month when I questioned him in both the Chamber and in the Defence Committee, that while we wait for the Strategic Defence Review, urgent decisions are still being taken. However, there is no reason why the Government cannot be more forthcoming on the timeline for its target.”
Ellwood called on Starmer to set out the timetable at the Joint Expeditionary Force summit, of the UK and Baltic and Nordic states in Estonia, which takes place later this month.
He added: “The first demand Trump is likely to make of Europe is ‘increase your defence budgets or I will cut US support.’
“As the next largest, most professional military force in Nato we should be leading by example.
“What the MoD requires is clarity to plan. Announcing a timetable to increase defence spending over the next year would satisfy the Treasury, give the MOD space to plan and set a responsible example with our Nato allies.”
Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge said: “It is extraordinary that Labour is announcing a Defence Industrial Strategy on the day they’re reportedly delaying their 2.5 per cent timetable once again, from March to June.
“With every day that 2.5 per cent is delayed, Labour undermines the ability of our armed forces to rearm at the pace and scale they need to meet today’s threats.”
Healey told Bloomberg TV: “The Chancellor and the Prime Minister have said we can expect the path to be set out to spend 2.5 per cent of GDP next spring.
“We have a cast iron commitment to do that. It will be the first time that Britain has spent 2.5 per cent of GDP on Defence since 2010 also with the Labour government.”
The i Paper reported in October that the Treasury was pushing for the target date for 2.5 per cent to be 2034, a decade from now. Politico reported on Monday that the defence chiefs are calling on the Government to set it for 2027.
Asked about the 2027 date, Healey said: “We’ve made our commitments at the election. We will honour that now, the Government will set out the clear path to raising defence spending to 2.5 per cent GDP, and everyone agrees we need to spend more on threats.”
Healey was speaking as he unveiled plans for a new defence industrial strategy, to be published alongside the Strategic Defence Review.
The Defence Secretary has also appealed for more investment in the UK’s defence industry to help the country meet the 2.5 per cent target.
On Monday the MoD and UK defence firms took part in war games to stress test equipment as a show of force to Vladimir Putin.
But critics say the UK is vulnerable to a wider Nato conflict with Russia because of underspending on defence for more than a decade.
In a speech at the London Defence Conference, Healey admitted that “the nation’s armed forces are only as strong as the industry that stands behind them”.
He added that “adversaries must know that we have an industry with the capacity to generate and regenerate the equipment our forces need” and that “we have the ability to innovate at a wartime pace, if faced with conflict”.
Healey said: “Everyone now agrees that we must, as a nation, spend more on defence.
“We must do that to meet the increasing and diversifying threats that we face.”
The clash over UK defence spending came as Nato’s new secretary-general warned Trump that the US would face a “dire threat” from China, Iran and North Korea if Ukraine is pushed to sign a peace deal on terms that are favourable to Russia.
Mark Rutte told the Financial Times: “We cannot have a situation where we have [North Korean leader] Kim Jong Un and the Russian leader and Xi Jinping and Iran high-fiving because we came to a deal which is not good for Ukraine, because long-term that will be a dire security threat not only to Europe but also to the US.”
In a speech at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet on Monday evening, Starmer also made a veiled reference to Trump’s commitment to Ukraine.
He said: “The future of freedom in Europe is being decided today. We face a near and present danger with Russia as an erratic, increasingly desperate aggressor, on our continent marshalling all its resources – along with North Korean troops and Iranian missiles – aiming to kill and to conquer.
“So there’s no question it’s right we support Ukraine. But we must also be clear that it is deeply in our self-interest.
“I would encourage everyone here to stop and think for a moment about what it would mean to us, to our continent, to the world if Russia wins. What would it mean for our values – for democracy, commerce, and liberty?
“It means they are weakened. It means that other autocrats would believe they can follow Putin’s example. And it means that our own security, stability and prosperity – are damaged. The further Russian troops advance, the closer the threat becomes. The more land they control, the more they control grain prices and energy sources, and the more confident Putin becomes.
“So we must continue to back Ukraine and do what it takes to support their self-defence for as long as it takes.
“To put Ukraine in the strongest possible position for negotiations so they can secure a just and lasting peace on their terms that guarantees their security, independence – and right to choose their own future.”
Starmer also dismissed calls to choose between the EU and the US as “plain wrong”.
He added:“Attlee did not choose between allies. Churchill did not choose. The national interest demands that we work with both.”
“Our relationship with the United States has been the cornerstone of our security and our prosperity for over a century. We will never turn away from that.
“We call it the special relationship for a reason. It is written not in some dry, dusty treaty, but in the ink of shared sacrifice. In memorials in villages, towns and cities up and down the country.
“In Normandy, Flanders and around the world. Right here in the Guildhall are etched the names of 112 killed in the First World War, 55 in the Second – fighting alongside the US. Like we still do today – for the same causes.
“This is not about sentimentality. It is about hard-headed realism. Time and again the best hope for the world and the surest way to serve our mutual national interest has come from our two nations working together. It still does. The fabric of our nations has been woven together so that our prosperity today – our leadership in tech, AI and more – are intertwined.
“And our security is even more closely intertwined at every level of our military, intelligence, industry, and R&D. That’s why, when President Trump graciously hosted me for dinner in Trump Tower, I told him that we will invest more deeply than ever in this transatlantic bond with our American friends in the years to come.”
