Julia Lopez MP has welcomed this week’s announcement by the Prime Minister that the UK will undertake the biggest strengthening of the UK’s national defence in a generation, complete with a fully funded plan to grow the defence budget to 2.5% of GDP by 2030.

Delivering a speech alongside NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in Poland on Tuesday, a country at the vanguard of the Europe’s defence, the Prime Minister highlighted how the UK sits at a turning point for European security and urged allies to step up.

Key points:

• On a visit to Poland, the Prime Minister launched the Government’s plan to steadily increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by the end of the decade – reaching £87 billion a year in 2030.
• Rishi Sunak announced ‘biggest strengthening of our national defence in a generation’ to meet the challenge of an increasingly dangerous world.
• Defence to receive an additional £75 billion over six years, ensuring the UK remains by far the second largest defence spender in NATO after the US.
• Additional funding will be used to put the UK’s defence industry on a war footing, deliver cutting-edge technology and back Ukraine against Russia.

A number of rogue states including Russia, Iran and China are increasingly working together to undermine democracies and reshape the world order. They are also investing heavily in their own militaries and in cyber capabilities and in low-cost technology, like the Shahed attack drones Iran fired towards Israel last weekend.

This poses a direct threat to the lives and livelihoods of people in the UK, as well as across Europe and the wider world. The Government has already committed record investment in defence and the UK armed forces are world-leading – but the Prime Minister has said that we must take further action now to deter these growing threats.

UK defence spending will increase immediately and then rise steadily to reach £87 billion at the end the decade – hitting 2.5% of GDP by 2030.

The Prime Minister has set out three areas of focus for our bolstered defence budget:

1. Firing up the UK defence industrial base: Investing at least an additional £10 billion over the next decade on munitions production, delivering high-quality jobs and investment across the UK and ensuring we have rapid production capacity and stockpiles of next-generation munitions.
2. Modernising our Armed Forces: Radically reforming defence procurement and creating a new Defence Innovation Agency to ensure the UK is at the cutting edge of modern warfare technology, with at least 5% of the defence budget to be committed to R&D.
3. Backing Ukraine’s defence: Ukraine’s security is our security. As part of this plan, the Government will commit an additional £500 million this year for the ammunition, air defence and drones Ukraine needs; the largest-ever single delivery of military equipment to Ukraine’s frontlines; and a cast-iron commitment to maintain existing levels of support to Ukraine for as long as it Is needed.

Backing the measures, Julia Lopez MP said:

“I’ve always been a firm supporter of the UK’s Armed Forces and I’m very proud to see that the Government is investing in the future security of the UK and Europe. This commitment to increase defence spending to 2.5% is the largest increase in defence spending in a generation and means that the UK is helping to lead the way in providing security at home and around the globe.

“This announcement will not only provide security and safety for the people of Hornchurch and Upminster, but the extra investment into security will also generate jobs and more indirect investment throughout the UK.”

The Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Tuesday:

“In a world that is the most dangerous it has been since the end of the Cold War, we cannot be complacent. As our adversaries align, we must do more to defend our country, our interests, and our values.

“That is why today I have announced the biggest strengthening of our national defence for a generation. We will increase defence spending to a new baseline of 2.5% of GDP by 2030 – a plan that delivers an additional £75 billion for defence by the end of the decade and secures our place as by far the largest defence power in Europe.

“Today is a turning point for European security and a landmark moment in the defence of the United Kingdom. It is a generational investment in British security and British prosperity, which makes us safer at home and stronger abroad.”