The Defence Secretary dodged the 2030 question 10 times in one morning
Wes Streeting refused 10 times on Thursday to commit to spending 3% of GDP on defence by 2030. Last month, he endorsed John Healey’s resignation letter over that very funding dispute.
The Defence Secretary declined to give the guarantee across interviews with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Times Radio, and Sky News.
He told the Today programme: ‘The Prime Minister has said very clearly that the defence investment plan must be fully funded. People will know how strongly the Chancellor feels about that. Those are conversations for future Budgets and future spending reviews.’
Pressed again by Sky News, he said: ‘Let’s say, for argument’s sake, I just said: yes, we will by 2030 meet 3%. The inevitable next question is how will you fund it.’
The resignation he endorsed last month
Healey quit as Defence Secretary on 11 June, in the final weeks of Sir Keir Starmer’s government. He resigned in protest at the Defence Investment Plan, which set no timetable for reaching 3%. Streeting publicly backed his resignation letter at the time.
Healey now serves as Chancellor under Prime Minister Andy Burnham. That puts the man who resigned over the missing target in charge of the budget that would fund it.
Burnham also failed to pledge the 2030 date when questioned by The Telegraph on Wednesday. He committed instead to NATO’s longer-term target of a core defence budget worth 3.5% of GDP by 2035.
Britain spends 2.3% now, and the current plan stops at 2.7%
The UK spent 2.3% of GDP on defence in 2025, according to figures compiled by the House of Commons Library. The existing Defence Investment Plan already projects spending rising to around 2.7% by 2030. The Telegraph’s report did not include that figure, which shows the row is about the final gap between 2.7% and 3%.
NATO allies agreed at the 2025 Hague summit to spend 5% of GDP on total defence-related investment by 2035, including a 3.5% core defence budget. NATO is funded by member-state contributions.
Failing to hit 3% by 2030 would be a ‘sign of weakness’. — Col Richard Kemp
Military experts say 2035 is too slow. Col Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former British Army officer, called the 2035 target ’too little, too late’. Col Richard Kemp, a former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, said failing to hit 3% by 2030 would be a ‘sign of weakness’. Both are former serving officers speaking in a personal capacity, with no institutional funding attached to their views.
Previous Conservative governments met NATO’s 2% minimum but repeatedly let higher self-imposed targets slip.
Trump pressure is coming
Burnham is expected to come under pressure from US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly attacked Western allies over defence spending.
Streeting was challenged on Thursday over his past description of Trump as an ‘odious sad little man’ pursuing ‘racist’ migration policies. He said such comments ‘haven’t been barriers to building a good relationship’ and called the United States ‘our closest ally’.
No new timetable has been announced. The government continues to describe its defence commitments as ‘fully funded’ without naming a 2030 date. The next test comes at upcoming NATO meetings, where American pressure is expected.
