Rishi Sunak signalled his reluctance to commit to a significant increase in UK defence spending on Monday despite heightened tensions with Russia, even as the prime minister signed off on a £4.2bn contract for five more warships for the Royal Navy.
Speaking en route to Indonesia for the G20 summit, Sunak defended the UK’s commitment to security and its allies. But he avoided answering whether he would match the promise of his predecessor Liz Truss to lift defence spending to 3 per cent of gross domestic product by 2030, well above Nato’s 2 per cent target.
“You talk about my predecessor’s target. My other predecessor [Boris Johnson] before that’s target was an aspiration to get to 2.5 per cent . . . and then the Nato target itself is 2 per cent,” he said.
“But what’s our record on this, right? For a long time we were one of only three or four countries to actually meet our Nato target. I’m glad now that number’s gone up . . . there’s probably nine countries out of the 30 or so that are meeting it.
“So again, we’re the second-largest defence spender in Nato. So no one can say that we do not have a very strong position on defence.”
His comments came as he announced the award of a £4.2bn contract to BAE Systems to build five more Type 26 frigates, designed primarily for anti-submarine warfare.
The navy plans to operate eight of the ships, with the first three vessels already under construction at Govan and Scotstoun shipyards near Glasgow. The follow-on contract will support 1,700 jobs in Scotland over the next decade, as well as 2,300 in the supply chain across the UK. The programme has been hit by delays with the first ship, HMS Glasgow, due to enter service in 2028.
Sunak has previously refused to back Truss’s commitment to a sharp increase in defence spending by 2030. His continued reluctance comes ahead of this week’s Autumn Statement, which will feature a range of spending cuts and tax rises in an attempt to bring borrowing under control.
As tensions mount with Russia over the war in Ukraine, Britain’s defence budget has been hit hard by soaring inflation and the weakening of the pound against the dollar.
Defence secretary Ben Wallace told the defence select committee earlier this month that both issues were the “two main challenges to the defence budget” up to the next spending review.
“In the here and now, next two years up to 2025, I need money to protect me from inflation and forex,” he said, referring to the strength of the dollar, which dictates the cost of much of the UK’s defence spending. Wallace said the inflationary pressures alone on the budget could total about £8bn over two years.
Sunak was pressed on whether defence spending would rise in line with inflation — now running at more than 10 per cent — over the short term in light of the Ukraine conflict. He replied that Britain’s international reputation for defence spending and “standing up to Russian aggression [was] very, very strong”.
He said there could be “no normalisation of [Russian president Vladimir] Putin’s behaviour, which has no place in the international community”, adding: “Russia’s actions put all of us at risk. As we give the Ukrainian people the support they need, we are also harnessing the breadth and depth of UK expertise to protect ourselves and our allies. This includes building the next generation of British warships.”
The eight new warships will eventually replace the navy’s ageing fleet of 12 remaining Type 23 anti-submarine frigates.
