Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been urged to consider emergency funding for defense and accelerate Britain's planned review of its military forces before Donald Trump returns to the White House.
Senior defense officials are currently assessing how President Trump's victory will shape the Strategic Defense Review (SDR), which was already underway in Whitehall, with the results expected to be reported in the spring. The SDR will run alongside a major review of public spending.
But Mr Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves have already faced calls to reconsider the immediate funding allocated to defence, amid concerns that a clear plan for the future of the military will not be set out until next summer. There is.
Mr Starmer's pledge to spend 2.5% of GDP on defence, if economic conditions allowed, has remained unpaid since the Budget. Meanwhile, the National Audit Office has already found that there is a £17bn shortfall in funding for new arms and equipment over the next 10 years.
Admiral Lord West, a former chief of naval staff and Labour's security minister under Gordon Brown, said: observer He argued that Trump's election created an opportunity for the UK to demonstrate its desire to strengthen its national defence, amid criticism from the incoming US president that European countries were not prioritizing national defence.
“I see this as an opportunity,” he said. “Political considerations make it natural to undertake a strategic defense review, but ensuring we have what we need to keep this country safe necessarily means we need more funding. So why not take the plunge and go down that path now?
“Historically, we've done better than most European countries, and President Trump knows that. We can show an example. We can show that we're going straight towards 3%. Ta [of GDP spent on defence] Because we want to show everyone the way. This is a huge check, and I think Mr. Trump will be on his side, and there will be many benefits. ”
Mr. West's intervention coincides with pressing concerns about President Trump's support for NATO and Ukraine. One of the people involved in the Strategic Defense Review is former White House Russia adviser Fiona Hill, whom President Trump once described as “a solid deep state guy with a nice accent.” Last week, the Prime Minister reassured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that Britain's support for Ukraine in its war with Russia remains “ironclad”.
Professor Malcolm Chalmers, deputy director of the Royal United Services Institute and former special adviser to Labour's former foreign secretary Jack Straw and Margaret Beckett, said there was a case for more immediate cash injections for defence. He said there is.
He said: “Assuming a reasonable increase in NHS spending from 2025 to 2026 onwards, the Chancellor will have little money left in other sectors to deliver significant real increases.” . “Perhaps national defense will be an exception to this rule, especially given the new circumstances created by the election of President Trump. But we have not yet seen any signs of such a change.Indeed, 10 With a defense budget that will not reach 2.5% by the end of the year, the pressure on defense capabilities will be significant.
“In light of President Trump’s election, there is an immediate need for the Treasury to restart its accounts for this year and next. Current defense allocations are below Whitehall’s average increase for next year and out of touch with geopolitical realities. It feels like there is.”
Mr West accepted there would be little public money left to spend after a tax hike budget to boost spending, but said painful cuts would be needed elsewhere. “Defending our country and its people is the top priority of any government,” he said. “So we have to cut things. I think it's unpleasant and scary, but we can't keep saying how important defense and security is and then not do anything about it.”
