Keir's £13bn-a-year defence boost to come at expense of foreign aid

SIR Keir Starmer has pledged a £13billion-a-year increase in defence spending by slashing foreign aid cash ahead of tomorrow's Washington showdown with Donald Trump.

- Martyn Brown

The Prime Minister laid out a plan to ramp up the military budget to 2.5% of GDP within two years and then to 3% after the next election.

Opposition parties broadly welcomed the move to spend more on defence but the aid cuts to raise cash for it were blasted by charities.

The announcement comes ahead of a critical meeting between Sir Keir and the US President at the White House.

Mr Trump has been urging European countries to drastically spend more on defence, as global powers attempt to broker a deal to end the war in Ukraine.

Sir Keir said the UK's aid budget would be reduced from 0.5% of GDP to 0.3% in 2027, "fully funding the investment in defence".

He told the Commons that would mean spending £13.4billion more on defence every year from 2027.

However, the Institute for Fiscal Studies said the 0.2% increase to defence spending is around £6billion in real terms. Last year the UK spent £53.9billion on defence.

The Prime Minister said defence spending would rise to 2.6% of GDP by 2027, once the contribution of intelligence services to defence had been factored in.

Urging European allies to step up, Sir Keir said the UK would also set out a "clear ambition" to increase defence spending to 3% of GDP after the next general election, due on or before August 2029.

He said the boost in defence spending from 2.3% could only be be funded through "extremely difficult and painful choices", adding the aid cut was not "an announcement I am happy to make".

However, he added that "the defence and security of the British people must always come first security of the British people must always come first". In an historic statement to a packed Commons, Sir Keir said: "I know this House will endorse the idea of achieving peace through strength.