‘NATO can’t force the UK to do anything’: Former top diplomat pushes back on defence spending hike
Former head of the diplomatic service Lord Simon McDonald told LBC that NATO 'can't force the UK to do anything' after reports that the Alliance will raise spending targets.
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Lord McDonald stressed to LBC's Andrew Marr the UK couldn't be forced to raise its defence spending by NATO.
It comes after reports that the UK would be forced to commit to spending 3.5 per cent of GDP on defence within the next decade as NATO hike their targets next month.
Insiders believe that Britain will be forced to sign up to a new target when leaders including Donald Trump and other allies meet at the Hague next month.
The next NATO summit is set to raise the group's target from 2 per cent - which Britain has long spent - to 3.5%, in a bid to appease the US President.
While senior defence sources expect the prime minister to agree to the target at the summit, Lord McDonald said the UK 'can't be forced' into agreeing.
He said pressure to increase military spending will be felt "in general within the alliance, particularly among the European allies," and that "It's not just going to be the United Kingdom that is asked to do more."
"And second, NATO as a voluntary alliance and can't force any of its members to do anything. So, the headlines that NATO is going to force this to happen I think are wrong," he added.
"Of course the timing is less than ideal because we had our shiny review yesterday which was meant to signal that we were doing more, significantly more and yet within 24 hours that is seen to be inadequate."
The government's defence review was released yesterday, which is based on reaching 2.5 per cent of GDP on defence by 2027.
At present Britain spends 2.3 per cent on defence, but Sir Keir Starmer has said that will rise to 3 per cent in the next parliament, when the "economic conditions allow" - but hasn't set a date.
But Lord McDonald warned that more budget cuts are on the horizon in next week's spending review, to free up more funds for security.
Given what feels like "the absence of significant economic growth" the former top diplomat said that "the Chancellor and the government are going to have to look at cutting the budget elsewhere."
"The first duty of a government is the security of the country," he said. "So I expect this to be the priority and for painful cuts to be made elsewhere to make this happen."
He added: "It's politically very tough, especially for a Labour Prime Minister, a Labour Chancellor, but the signals very consistently are, despite that toughness, [spending cuts] will happen."
Any rise in spending will mean billions of pounds extra has to be found - with the Chancellor already facing financial pressures ahead of the spending review next week.
The Prime Minister was grilled yesterday on whether the UK would back a new target from NATO.
He said: "Our commitment to NATO is huge, in terms of the contribution we already make.
"We commit our nuclear capability and other capability. We have a NATO first approach.
"Of course, there are discussions about what the contribution should be going into the NATO conference in two or three weeks' time.
"That's a vital conversation we do need to have, and we are right at the heart of it. But it is much more about what sort of NATO will be capable of being, as it has been over the past 80 years."