Boris Johnson has announced plans for the UK to increase defence spending by the end of the decade.
The Prime Minister made the promise that the UK will be spending 2.5 per cent of gross domestic product on defence by 2030 just days after dropping a manifesto commitment to increase the armed forces budget every year.
Speaking at the end of the Nato summit in Madrid, Johnson would only commit to increasing the amount the UK spends on defence by the end of the decade.
READ MORE: UK to give Ukraine an extra £1 bn of support
But it has emerged that the Defence budget will not increase by 0.5 per cent more than inflation every year as promised in the Tory manifesto before the election.
All Nato countries agreed to reach the two per cent target of spending on defence by the end of the decade but Johnson said the UK would go further.
He said: “We need to invest for the long term, in vital capabilities like future combat air, while simultaneously adapting to a more dangerous and competitive world. The logical conclusion of the investments we propose to embark, of these decisions, is 2.5 per cent of GDP on defence by the end of the decade.”
The PM earlier confirmed the UK was giving another £1 billion of military support Ukraine, including a £65 million contribution from the devolved Scottish Government budget.
Johnson rejected suggestions that the British people would grow tired of supporting Ukraine as the war with Russia contributes to the cost of living crisis.
He said: “The point I would make about the cost of freedom, as it were, is actually it’s always worth paying.”
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