UK PM Starmer Planning Major Cuts to International Aid Budget to Boost Defense Spending: Report

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is planning major cuts to the international aid budget in bid to boost defense spending, the Guardian reported.

With Starmer’s US visit looming, he is expected to confirm his government’s timeline to raise defense spending to at least 2.5 percent of the GDP by 2030, in line with his pledge that the UK would “play its full part” in troop deployment to Ukraine in the event of a deal to end war with Russia.

Starmer had expressed his willingness to commit British forces on the ground alongside other nations if a lasting peace agreement is reached while emphasising that a US security guarantee was essential to effectively deter further Russian aggression towards Ukraine.

“I am prepared to consider committing British forces on the ground alongside others if there’s a lasting peace agreement. But there must be a US backstop because a US security guarantee is the only way to effectively deter Russia from attacking Ukraine again,” Starmer had said at the end of an emergency summit in Paris last week.

“We have to recognise the new era we are in, not cling hopelessly to the comforts of the past. It’s time for us to take responsibility for our security, for our continent,” he added.

An increase in defense spending to 2.5 percent from the existing 2.3 percent would, however, still fall short of what is needed for transformation of the armed forces, the report said, quoting defense sources.

An increase to at least three percent of national income would be required, the sources further stressed while speaking to the Guardian.

Starmer had reportedly chosen “to reduce the aid budget by as much as half” in an attempt to boost military capability after the Trump administration suggested it was withdrawing its support from Ukraine.