Every day, Britain’s armed forces are on active service around the world. They put themselves in harm’s way to defend our values and interests and keep our people safe.
Today, they do so in an international environment that is steadily deteriorating. We are seeing more instability, happening more quickly, in more places at once. Russia’s abhorrent war of aggression in Ukraine continues. And crucially, not only are threats to stability growing but the links between states like Russia, Iran, North Korea and China are growing too.
As our adversaries strengthen their ties, the United Kingdom and our allies need to go further to defend our countries, bolster our alliances and deter our adversaries.
That is why on Tuesday the Prime Minister announced the biggest strengthening of our national defence in a generation. We will increase our baseline for defence spending to 2.5% of GDP (the size of the economy) by 2030. This new investment starts right away before increasing in each and every year until we meet the target. This means, over the next six years, we will spend an extra £75 billion. This will be fully funded, with no increase in borrowing or debt, alongside a clear plan for what we’ll spend and when we’ll spend it.
In a world of increasing threats, the United Kingdom will always stand up for our interests, deter our enemies, and defend our values.