‘Britain must match US on defence spending’ warns Jeremy Hunt as Kyiv prepares for battle

Jeremy Hunt addresses Boris Johnson's Peppa Pig comments

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The former Foreign Secretary argued that the UK should increase defence spending to the same levels as the US declaring peace came through “strength, not luck.” Writing for the Telegraph, the former Conservative leadership contender called the Russian invasion of Ukraine “the biggest failure of Western foreign and security policy in our lifetimes.

He said: “It happened because we forgot the most fundamental lesson of the Cold War: the power of deterrence.

“Instead of peace through strength we caused war through weakness.”

Mr Hunt also argued that by “announcing they would not intervene” if Russia invaded Ukraine, the USA and UK undermined any attempted deterrence.

The Conservative MP also referenced the criticisms that then US President Donald Trump had made about NATO members when he was foreign secretary.

He said: “He was only saying more robustly what numerous presidents had said before.

“If we want America to remain the leader of the free world, other democratic powers, especially in Europe, must commit to matching US defence spending as a proportion of GDP.”

However, for Britain to hit that target a massive increase in defence spending would need to take place.

In 2021, the UK spent 2.3 percent of GDP on defence according to NATO figures compared to 3.5 percent for the USA.

The UK currently spends £40billion on defence, so to meet the US benchmark, Britain would need to spend tens of billions of pounds more on the military.

According to figures published in The Telegraph last year, the UK spent £149.8 billion on health 14.8% of GDP and £76.2 billion on education.

This is in sharp contrast to comparable 1990 figures at the end of the Cold War when health, education and defence all had similar amounts of financial resources devoted to them.

Mr Hunt’s call will put pressure on Chancellor Rishi Sunak as he prepares for his Spring Statement later this month.

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According to The Telegraph, Mr Sunak is resisting calls for defence spending to be increased, arguing that two years ago the UK announced the biggest increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War.

Prof Malcolm Chalmers, deputy director-general of the Royal United Services Institute argued that to increase defence spending significantly would involve another tax rise.

He said: “An increase in taxes beyond what the Chancellor has already promised would be needed for a substantial rise in defence spending.”

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