British PM Keir Starmer says Britain and NATO are facing more serious threats than at any time since the Cold War.Thomas Krych/Reuters
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has unveiled a sweeping overhaul of the country’s military and pledged to increase defence spending substantially over the next decade to make Britain a “battle-ready, armour-clad nation.”
In a speech at a military shipyard outside Glasgow on Monday, Mr. Starmer announced that the government will build six new munitions factories, 12 attack submarines and spend £15-billion ($28-billion) on its Trident nuclear weapons program. He also promised to increase military pay and improve living conditions for soldiers, and he said drone technology will be incorporated into warships, aircraft and submarines.
Mr. Starmer said Britain and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are facing more serious threats than at any time since the Cold War, particularly from Russia. Accordingly, the British army would be “10 times more lethal by 2035,” he vowed.
“A new era in the threats we face, demands a new era for defences and security,” he said, adding that “we are moving to war fighting readiness as the central purpose of our armed forces.”
Overall, Mr. Starmer said Britain’s defence spending would increase to 2.5 per cent of gross domestic product by 2027 from the existing 2.3 per cent, and up to 3 per cent by 2034. The NATO target for defence spending is currently 2 per cent of GDP, but the alliance is considering a proposal to increase that to 5 per cent by 2032.
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Britain joins the European Union and several countries, including Canada, Germany and Poland, in promising major increases in defence spending to counter rising threats from Russia and China.
Canada spends around 1.37 per cent of GDP on defence, although Prime Minister Mark Carney promised during the recent election campaign to hit the 2-per-cent target by 2030. Mr. Carney has also expressed an interest in Canada joining the EU’s rearmament program.
The British government spent £54-billion ($100-billion) on the military last year, and that was projected to increase to £59.8-billion ($111-billion) next year. The Royal Navy currently has nine submarines, and Mr. Starmer said the plan was to build the 12 new subs in stages and deliver a new one every 18 months. They will be built through the AUKUS partnership, which includes Britain, United States and Australia.
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Last year, the British government set up a Strategic Defence Review, or SDR, which describes Russia as a “pressing threat” and says its war economy means that Moscow will be able to quickly rebuild its military capabilities if there is a ceasefire in Ukraine. China was more likely to seek advantages through espionage and cyber attacks, the report says.
The British government has accepted the SDR‘s 62 recommendations, which called for the military to concentrate on home defence, cyber warfare and space systems.
Defence Secretary John Healey told the House of Commons on Monday that the government also planned upgrades to Britain’s Typhoon fighter jets, and develop homeland air and missile defence systems. There are also plans to “introduce a voluntary gap year scheme for school and college leaders” to encourage them to join the military, Mr. Healey said.
The Prime Minister faced questions on Monday about how the government would pay for the SDR and meet the 3-per-cent military spending target. He is already under pressure to increase funding for health care and scrap plans to cut some welfare benefits.
Mr. Starmer and Britain's Defence Secretary John Healey at BAE Systems' shipbuilding site in Glasgow on June 2.ANDY BUCHANAN/Reuters
Some of the extra money will come from a reduction in foreign aid that was announced last fall by the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves. But that won’t be near enough to cover the recommendations in the SDR or meet the 3-per-cent military spending target, and Mr. Starmer has been vague about where the remaining cash will come from.
On Monday, he insisted that he was “100-per-cent” confident the spending commitments outlined in the review will be met, although he did not provide any details.
“We are committed to spending what we need to deliver this review,” Mr. Starmer told reporters.
Conservative MP James Cartlidge said the government’s plan was meaningless because it did not come with a clear funding plan.
“An SDR without the funding is an empty wish list,” he told the House of Commons.
Paul Johnson, director of the London-based Institute for Fiscal Studies, said the government would have to hike taxes to pay for the plans given all of the other budget commitments that have been made.
“It really does seem to me that the only choice that is available, if we’re going to go through with all of those things, is some really quite chunky tax increases to pay for it,” Mr. Johnson told Times Radio.