Starmer calls on Nato to raise defence spending

Keir Starmer will today call on Nato countries to increase defence spending in response to rising global threats as he launches a major review setting out UK plans to spend tens of billions of pounds more on the military.

- Pippa Crerar

The prime minister will use Nato's 75th anniversary summit in Washington, his first international trip since winning power, to underline Britain's "cast iron" commitment to the defence alliance.

He will say that further increases in spending from allies will help Nato tackle the nature of today's threats, including Vladimir Putin's brutal invasion of Ukraine, continued instability in the Middle East and the rise of authoritarian states.

A strategic defence review will be launched next week - but is likely to take up to a year to complete, meaning growing pressure on Starmer to confirm a timetable for the UK to boost defence spending to its target of 2.5% of GDP.

The Labour peer and former first sea lord Alan West said yesterday: "I think we ought to say when we are going to get to 2.5%. 'When the situation allows' is not really good enough - Putin will not wait for our situation to be good enough before he attacks." The prime minister, who is accompanied on the US trip by his wife Victoria, is to meet Joe Biden at the White House today for their first bilateral talks, where he will seek to underline the strength and stability of the transatlantic relationship despite the change in government.

His first meeting with the US president would be a highlight but, with questions raging about Biden's health and the American election just four months away, some careful choreography may be needed. The Bidens will then host the Starmers and other world leaders, with their partners, at a glitzy White House dinner.

Starmer will use the Nato summit to emphasise the UK's "unshakable" commitment to Ukraine at a time when Moscow has escalated its attacks, hitting a children's hospital in Kyiv this week, and with the US election in November bringing its own uncertainty.