British defence spending to fall below Nato benchmark
Study by Royal United Services Institute predicts Britain's spending on defence will fall to 1.88 per cent of GDP - below the Nato benchmark of two per cent
Fallon hopeful on 2% defence spend
The Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has said he hopes the UK will keep its defence spending at “around” the Nato target of 2% of GDP beyond the next election.
The UK is currently spending more than the figure, and the Defence Committee called on the Government to make a commitment to maintain the 2% target.
Michael Fallon said this morning he wanted a similar commitment to extend into the next spending round.
“That is a target we have endorsed, committed to it at the moment and I certainly hope we're going to keep up at around that level, but it's also important to get the other countries to do more as well - some are even below 1%,” the Defence Secretary told the BBC.
The Defence Committee called for increased spending among Nato nations to be made a priority at the upcoming summit in Wales in order to prove the alliance’s “political will and its commitment to collective defence”.
The MPs also warned that Nato faced “serious deficiencies” in its ability to defend member states from an attack by Russia.
The report said the organisation “may not have the collective political will to take concerted action to deter attack”, and called for “dramatic” improvements to rapid reaction forces as well as the establishing of a continuous presence in “vulnerable” Baltic states.
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