“One of the great lessons of our history is that instability in Europe will always wash up on our shores, and that tyrants like [Russian President Vladimir] Putin only respond to strength. Russia is a menace in our waters, in our airspace and on our streets,” he said.
The government’s Strategic Defense Review, looking at the threats Britain faces, is due to report this spring, and was meant to set out how the government would reach 2.5 percent.
Starmer also pledged to publish a single national security strategy and present it in parliament before the NATO summit in June.
‘Hard choices’
The prime minister described cuts to development spending as part of the “hard choices” confronting his government.
“That is not an announcement I am happy to make,” Starmer said, adding that the U.K. will continue to play a humanitarian role in Sudan, Ukraine and Gaza. He confirmed the ambition to increase aid spending again when circumstances allowed.
He added: “We will do everything we can to return to a world where that is not the case, and rebuild a capability on development.” But “at times like this, the defense and security of the British people must always come first,” Starmer said.
