The UK spends about 2.6% of GDP on defence, with a government commitment to 3% only in the next Parliament and a NATO target of 3.5% by 2035. The Budget on 28 October is not expected to set a date for 3%, with the timetable pushed to the 2027 spending review. Fiscal headroom has narrowed to roughly £12-16bn after an energy price shock, and the Conservatives estimate 3% needs about £10bn more a year.
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9 Opinions
It is essential that our Defence is adequate and this means we need to spend more on it. This should come from cutting other spending, unfortunately I doubt this government taking that step.
Easiest way to bring down the UK is to have an old container ship open a hold in the Channel and ten thousand small drones swarm the coast and hit every infrastructure target there is, no air defence to speak of and nowhere near enough ships to cover us. Defence spending is the price we pay for freedom. The first duty of any government.
Raising borrowing for defence will one inevitably be spent on a foreign war few UK citizens want. We need to defend our own borders with what we spend already and leave it at that.
Definitely not. More borrowing undermines our economy and makes us less secure. Cut welfare spending
Borrowing right now in the current economic climate is a terrible idea. It would be better to focus a bit harder on economic growth for the next year or so and utilise that growth to offset instead of piling on additional burden that will cost us all a lot more and actually delay us getting to a good enough position to make the increase as impactless as possible on other services and/or taxes.