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Kemi Badenoch has said failing to spend more on defence “is not peacemaking, it is weakness” as Sir Keir Starmer and other European leaders face pressure from Donald Trump to increase NATO contributions.
The Conservative leader told the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference: “Totalitarian states like Russia, Iran and North Korea are coordinated in their efforts.
“Failing to spend more on defence is not peacemaking, it is weakness.
“And it only emboldens their threats to democracy and global stability.”
Politics latest: PM jets off to Paris for emergency meeting
Her comments came ahead of an “emergency meeting” of European leaders in Paris over what to do about defence spending following a dramatic change in US policy.
President Trump has said the US no longer sees the defence of Europe as its primary concern – a major policy change after 80 years – and called for Europe to spend more on helping Ukraine in their war against Russia while the US should spend less.
He has called for other NATO members to spend 5% of their GDP on defence.
Currently, the UK spends 2.3%, but the government has said it wants to reach 2.5%. However, it has yet to say when this commitment will be announced, let alone by what date the target will be met.
Sir Keir has said he is willing to send British troops to help on the ground in a peacekeeping role.
On Monday, he said the UK has to spend more on defence as “that’s the reality of the situation we find ourselves in”.
He reiterated his government’s commitment to spend 2.5% of GDP on defence, an increase from the current 2.3%, but said “we’ll set out that path” only when the strategic review of defence is published.
“But part of my message to our European allies is that we’ve all got to step up on both capability and on spending and funding,” he said.
“That includes the…
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