Britain's defence budget is to receive a multi-billion-pound boost to counter the growing threat of Russia and China, it is being reported. The Daily Express says that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is planning an extra £5bn to be spent over the next two years to bolster the UK's warfighting capabilities.
It reports that the Prime Minister has also committed to ramping up overall spending on the military by 2.5 per cent of GDP in the longer term. The Express claims that £2bn of the new investment will be used to replenish and bolster vital ammunition stocks that the UK has given to Ukraine, while £3bn will be spent on modernising the UK’s nuclear enterprise and funding the next phase of the Aukus atomic submarine pact with the US and Australia.
Mr Sunak unveiled the funding boost as he flew to the US to meet President Joe Biden and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. He said the integrated review of UK defence and foreign policy had been updated in the wake of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking on his way to San Diego, Mr Sunak told the Express: “The UK is increasing its ambitions when it comes to defence spending. We’ve got £5bn over the next two years – crucially, that’s going on stockpiles and we’ve got to make sure that our Armed Forces have everything they need in the short term, but also investing in the resilience of our nuclear enterprise which is critical for our future security; and a long-term ambition and trajectory to get to 2.5 per cent.
“It is a very very strong and positive statement about our ambitions.” Mr Sunak told the Express that Britain would be “robust” in dealing with China at a time President Xi Jinping seems to be forging closer ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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Mr Sunak’s first visit to the US as Prime Minister comes after Defence Secretary Ben Wallace argued for an £11bn pound increase. But the Ministry of Defence said: “The Defence Secretary is delighted with the settlement, especially in these economically challenging times.”
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