Watch again as Sir Keir Starmer faced Kemi Badenoch at PMQs on Wednesday (26 February) ahead of crunch US talks with Donald Trump.
Sir Keir faced the Tory leader a day after his shock announcement to increase the UK’s defence spending to 2.5 per cent and just hours before he traveled to Washington DC to meet with the US President.
Defence secretary John Healey has insisted that the US president’s demands are not the sole reason for the increase.
He pointed out that this promise was made in Labour’s election manifesto. but is being delivered three years early as the “world has changed”.
It comes after Sir Keir said Britain would hike defence spending by 2027 with a further “ambition” to hit 3 per cent by the early 2030s.
European countries including France and Germany have signalled a need to increase defence spending, but details of how and when this will happen have been vague.
Sir Keir acknowledged his plans were accelerated by US president Donald Trump’s criticism of Ukraine and threats to withdraw security guarantees from Europe.
