Nato urges UK to increase defence spending, as military bosses reveal concern about UK air defence

5 January 2025, 11:27 | Updated: 5 January 2025, 11:36

Nato is demanding the UK increase spending amid fear that the country could be vulnerable to ballistic missile strikes.

Nato will demand the UK increase military spending, to protect British air space against ballistic missiles.

Amid escalating conflict in Ukraine, the UK currently does not contribute enough the European defence systems, and it is believed that Nato will make a formal request to Prime Minister Kier Starmer to increase funding later this year.

A Times investigation found that defence sources are deeply concerned about the holes in British missile defence.

Military personnel and defence experts have revealed that key British infrastructure is at risk of long-range missile strike, made by Russia, China, or Iran.

They said: "In 15 years' time, a ballistic missile will be able to hit Britain from anywhere in the world

"But it's a very expensive problem to fix."

One senior military figure noted that the UK could be hit by a missile, submarine, or aircraft in any direction.

It has been reported that other Nato countries are frustrated with a lack of UK defence spending.

Germany signed a £3.2 billion deal with Israel in 2024 to purchase Arrow 3, a defence system designed to intercept weapons outside of the Earth's atmosphere.

Britain's current defence comes from the British Army's advanced Sky Sabre missile system and the Royal Navy's six Type 45 destroyers, claimed to be a world leading air defence ship.

Prime Minister Kier Starmer told LBC's Nick Ferrari in December 2024 that the government is committed to increasing defence spending to 2.5% of GDP.

He refused to be drawn on whether that could increase further to 3%.

"There is an ongoing discussion in Europe about defence spending and there is an acceptance that it needs to go up," he told Nick.

"But the discussion this morning was also about how we do that jointly, make the most of the joint work that we do, and all of that has to be taken into account."

He continued: "At the moment, we’re going to set out the pathway to 2.5% but there’s a live discussion going on about defence spending."

When asked if he would go as far as 3%, Sir Keir said: "We made that commitment that we would get to 2.5% - the discussion we had this morning is how we make the defence spending of our Nato allies work best collectively.

"There was a real sense around the table this morning that it's not about just what the contribution from each individual Nato country is, it’s also about the joint work we do."

Sir Keir Starmer commits to 'setting out a pathway' to 2.5% defence spending

Also in December 2024, the UK confirmed it would be sending British troops to train Ukrainian soldiers.

Defence Secretary John Healey said the UK must “make the training a better fit for what the Ukrainians need” as he hinted British troops could be sent to Ukraine.

Speaking on a trip to Kyiv, Mr Healey said we are at “one of the most critical periods of the war” as he urged Ukraine’s allies to “step up on every front.”

He told the Times: “Anyone who thinks that fight [to] talk is going to be a simple switch, misses I think the likely reality that you may have talking and still fighting.

“And whether or not you have got talking that may or may not be successful in reaching an agreement.

”The Defence Secretary refused to confirm if British troops would be sent to Ukraine for training."

He said: “We will look wherever we can to respond to what the Ukrainians want.

They are the ones fighting.”He added: “We can’t take our eye off the ball.”