LONDON: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will host NATO head Mark Rutte in London next Monday for talks focusing on defence spending, the government said Thursday.
The meeting comes as Rutte pushes for members of the western military alliance to allocate more money for defence in response to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.
“You can expect the prime minister to raise how we can ensure all allies meet their stated pledges in support of our collective defence, to keep people safe,” Starmer’s spokesman told reporters.
US President Donald Trump has demanded that NATO members boost defence budgets to five percent of their GDP at an alliance summit to be held in the Netherlands on June 24-25.
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Rutte has put forward a compromise agreement for 3.5 percent of GDP on core military spending by 2032, and 1.5 percent on broader security-related areas such as infrastructure.
Several diplomats say Rutte looks on track to secure the deal for the Hague summit, but a few allies are still hesitant about committing to such levels of spending.
Rutte has been pressing his case for the spending hike to European leaders this week, including during visits to Vilnius and Paris.
Starmer has committed to increasing UK defence spending from 2.3 percent to 2.5 percent from April 2027.
He has also expressed an ambition to raise it again to three percent in the next parliament, likely in the early 2030s.
“It is worth recognising the UK’s track record on spending and indeed our contribution to NATO, both in terms of our spending and our capabilities,” Starmer’s spokesman said.
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told reporters after a NATO meeting of defence ministers in Brussels on Thursday that the UK was “going to get there” the new targets.
Monday’s meeting will be the second time that Rutte has visited Starmer at Downing Street since the latter became UK leader in July 2024, following an earlier visit last October.
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