A former Royal Navy officer has warned the UK risks losing influence within NATO due to Labour’s defence spending plans.
Admiral Sir Keith Blount said Britain is in danger of becoming a ‘following nation’, rather than a leader, based on the present trajectory of investment.
The UK currently provides the headquarters of NATO’s Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) and has led European support for Ukraine.
But Sir Keith told The Times that status is at risk from uncertainty over the UK’s spending commitments.
Germany, Poland, Baltic and Scandinavian NATO members are leaving Britain trailing. Meanwhile, the Labour government refuses to set out a pathway to reaching NATO spending targets.
Those targets include investing 3.5 per cent of GDP in core defence capabilities by 2035.
UK defence spending is currently 2.6 per cent. Based on Labour spending projections that percentage will rise to 2.68 per cent over the next four years.
In comparison, Germany expects to reach 3.5 per cent by 2030. Poland is already spending over 4 per cent.
Just days after stepping down from a senior role in NATO, Admiral Sir Keith Blount warned the UK government’s defence spending plans could compromise Britain’s status within the alliance.
Outgoing Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has vowed to push through defence spending plans despite his impending departure and the resignations of his Defence Secretary and Armed Forces Minister over his government’s failure to invest in the Services.
Ahead of the publication of the Defence Investment Plan (DIP), Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis has warned ‘significant savings’ must be made.
Sir Keith, who has just retired from a senior position within NATO said: ‘If the other larger nations of the alliance outperform us in terms of meeting capability targets, meeting the defence investment pledge, it is only natural the allies, as a completely rational body of nations, see those nations as the ones who deserve greater influence.’
The senior Royal Navy officer added Britain’s plans to catch up on defence spending were ‘too late’, saying ‘you’ve got to steepen that curve as quickly as you can’.
He said: ‘You can’t magic capability from nothing. It will be brought to bear by investment and that investment is needed right now. There is no doubt about that. NATO is quite transactional. The more nations put into the alliance, the more they tend to get out.’
Sir Keith has just retired after serving as Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe and after 40 years in uniform.
His warning over Labour’s spending plans was sounded as Downing Street tempered speculation Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis may have convinced Sir Keir Starmer to improve the terms of a four-year additional spending package.
In recent days reports had emerged regarding ‘positive meetings’ between Mr Jarvis, the outgoing Prime Minister and the Chancellor Rachel Reeves.
As a result, hopes were raised that the Ministry of Defence could be offered more than the £13.5 billion in extra expenditure previously put on the table.
But in another blow for the Armed Forces, a Downing Street spokesman gave no indication the topline figure was being revisited.
Seemingly Mr Jarvis, who accepted the role following John Healey’s resignation over defence spending, will be required to make savings within his existing budget.
Any cuts to capability are fraught with risk from a reputational standpoint and as such reductions will leave Britain more vulnerable to Russian aggression.
Sir Keith was echoing a warning issued by Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski who on Wednesday said Britain risks ‘global irrelevance’ as it falls further behind allies.
He said: ‘If you want to be a global player you need to back up your diplomacy with force. Either you pay for it or it will wane. When push comes to shove you either have the ships to send to the Gulf or the brigades to deploy to Ukraine or you don’t.’
Speaking on a visit to Milton Keynes today Sir Keir defended the government’s spending record and his controversial decision to proceed with publishing the Defence Investment Plan (DIP) and to personally attend the NATO summit in Turkey in July.
Sir Keir dismissed claims by allies of his likely successor Andy Burnham that he should wait for the Makerfield MP to sign off the DIP.
He said: ‘Everybody understands it is important we spend the money that we must spend on our armed forces. So it is my intention to publish [the DIP] ahead of the NATO summit.
‘That’s the right time to publish it, when we will be coming together as NATO countries to share our capabilities and to make sure we emerge from that summit stronger as a military force.’
