Nato chief says he is confident Burnham will stick to defence spending target
Summary
Nato’s secretary general, Mark Rutte, expressed confidence that Andy Burnham, expected to become the UK’s next prime minister, will support continued increases in UK defence spending. Rutte noted that defence investments help keep countries safe and create jobs, and he acknowledged that the UK plans to increase funding gradually toward Nato’s target of spending 3.5% of GDP on defence by 2035.Key Facts
- Nato wants the UK to spend 3.5% of its GDP on defence by 2035.
- John Healey resigned as UK defence secretary over slow progress on defence spending.
- The UK government plans to increase defence spending to 2.68% of GDP by 2030.
- The new UK defence investment plan covers over £300 billion in projects.
- The UK recently reduced a funding gap in defence spending from £18 billion to under £4 billion.
- Nato chief Mark Rutte met UK leaders ahead of a Nato summit in Turkey.
- Rutte praised Labour prime ministers for their past commitment to Nato.
- Other countries like Germany plan to meet Nato defence targets earlier than the UK.
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