British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Tuesday the UK will pump up its military spending to 2.5% of its GDP by 2027, blasting Russian President Vladimir Putin as a “tyrant” as Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine entered its fourth year.
Starmer, 62, made the unexpected announcement in the House of Commons ahead of a Thursday meeting with President Trump at the White House.
The announced increase — valued at just shy of $17 billion per year — is above NATO’s recommendation that its members spend 2% of GDP on defense.
However, the Trump administration has strongly encouraged the 32 members of the Atlantic alliance to spend up to 5% of their GDP on defense, both to deter Russian aggression and shift some of the financial burden of European security off the US.
The prime minister said his Labour government would offset the increase by reducing foreign aid to 0.3% of GDP from 0.5%, a move he said was “not a renouncement I’m happy to make.”
Starmer praised NATO as the “bedrock” of security for the continent, and lambasted Putin, saying “tyrants only respond to strength.”
In a post on X Tuesday morning, Starmer trumpeted the modest defense spending increase, saying it “is my first duty as Prime Minister to keep this country safe,” and making an oblique reference to the heightened global threat environment.
“In an ever more dangerous world, it’s vital that we protect British people at home.”
Trump said Monday that Putin was willing to accept European peacekeeping troops in Ukraine as part of a potential peace deal to bring an end to the three-year-old war — a statement the Kremlin contested Tuesday.
“Yeah, he will accept that. I’ve asked him that question,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office while hosting French President Emmanuel Macron.
“Look, if we do this deal, he’s not looking for more war. He doesn’t mind,” Trump added.
“But I’ve specifically asked him that question. He has no problem with it.”
However, Putin later claimed in an interview circulated by Russian state media shortly after Trump’s comments that the Ukraine conflict “was not discussed in essence” with US leadership.
