UK Pledges to Increase Defense Spending to 5% of GDP by 2035

The UK pledged to increase its defense spending to 5% of GDP by 2035, in line with the rest of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The UK expects to ramp up to 4.1% of GDP on defense by 2027.

The 32 member countries in NATO are expected to all agree to this target at their summit in the Netherlands, a substantial rise from the current NATO target of 2%. Of the spending, 3.5% of GDP will be for core defense capabilities and 1.5% will be for matters related to defense such as security and resilience. Examples of the latter include border security, cyber security and sturdier energy systems.

In addition to the Labour government, the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties support increasing defense spending.

This is usually portrayed in media as placating Donald Trump, who berates Europe for depending too heavily on the USA for military protection. However, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine combined with concern that Trump would not honor NATO’s Article 5 mutual defense guarantee has made Europe step up its focus on defense.

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