Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who is set to meet with President Trump on Thursday, said he would increase British spending on defense to 2.5 percent of G.D.P. by 2027.
Britain on Tuesday announced a landmark increase in military spending, seeking to send a powerful signal about burden sharing to President Trump before Prime Minister Keir Starmer meets him at the White House on Thursday.
Mr. Starmer said Britain would raise its military spending to 2.5 percent of economic output by 2027, and to 3 percent during the next government’s term, which would mean by 2034 at the latest. Britain, he said, would pay for the massive new expenditure by scaling back spending on overseas development aid.
The Labour government had already promised to raise expenditure to 2.5 percent of gross domestic product, from a current level of 2.3 percent, but it had not given a date by which it would do so. The move would amount to an increase in expenditure of 13.4 billion pounds ($17 billion) a year on defense between now and 2027.
“We must change our national security posture because a generational challenge demands a generational response,” Mr. Starmer said in a statement to Parliament that won support across the chamber’s political parties.
Mr. Starmer said the government would cut overseas development aid from 0.5 percent of gross domestic product to 0.3 percent, adding that he regretted the reduction. “At times like this, the defense and security of the British people must always come first,” he said.