11 July 2023 , 21:30
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Rishi Sunak took a swipe at NATO’s defence spending reports as he flew to Lithuania for this week’s summit.
Jetting to Vilnius, he called on allies to pump more cash into their militaries. Just 11 of NATO’s 31 members hit a pledge to spend at least 2% of GDP on their armed forces.
Latest NATO figures show the percentage spent by Britain is due to drop from 2.16% in 2022 to 2.07% in 2023.
Challenged by the Mirror, the Prime Minister claimed the alliance’s figures - published just last Friday - were “out of date”. Yet NATO’s publication said countries had until June 23 to report their spending plans.
“Each ally’s Ministry of Defence reports current and estimated future defence expenditure according to an agreed definition of defence expenditure,” says the document.
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"The cut-off date for information used in this report was 23 June 2023. Figures for 2022 and 2023 are estimates.”
NATO leaders at the summit in Lithuania (Getty Images)Asked about the fall in the percentage of GDP the UK is allocating to defence, Mr Sunak insisted they failed to take account of a £5billion boost for the Royal Navy’s Trident-armed nuclear submarine fleet and to replenish stocks of weapons sent to Ukraine announced in March.
He told the Mirror: “Those figures are out of date. When they compiled the numbers for that table you’re seeing, what they didn’t have was the uplift in defence spending. It doesn't include, for example, the £5bn that was announced at Spring Budget which is strengthening the nuclear enterprise and rebuilding stockpiles.
“If you put that into account, defence spending would be increasing as it is in our own figures, and we will continue to be the largest spender in Europe and the second largest in NATO.”
NATO leaders were also celebrating on Tuesday after Turkey dropped its opposition to Sweden joining the alliance. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he would back Stockholm’s membership - ending almost a year of deadlock. NATO secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg hailed a "historic step", saying: “That will make our alliance even more capable of defending all allies.”
Rishi Sunak held talks with Mr Erodgan in the margins of NATO’s summit in Lithuanian capital Vilnius. No10 said: “The Prime Minister welcomed Turkey’s support for Sweden’s accession to NATO and commended President Erdoğan for his efforts.” Mr Sunak said: “This is an historic moment for NATO that makes us all safer. Sweden, we look forward to welcoming you into the Alliance.”
Sweden will become the alliance’s 32nd member having applied for accession following Russia ’s invasion of Ukraine. Its application was held up by Turkey which accused the Swedes of harbouring what Turkey claimed were militants from the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, the PKK.
NATO allies said Sweden met all conditions for membership - but Ankara stunned the alliance earlier this week by linking Swedish membership to Turkey’s bid to join the EU. In a statement announcing Turkey had dropped its opposition to Swedish membership, NATO said Sweden “will actively support efforts to reinvigorate Turkey’s EU accession process”.
The decision to admit Sweden was a boost for leaders descending on Vilnius for a two-day summit. Arriving in the city, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said: “Rumors of the death of NATO’s unity were greatly exaggerated." Swedish PM Ulf Kristersson said: "I am very happy, it is a good day for Sweden." German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock tweeted: "At 32, we're all safer together."
Mr Stoltenberg warned a "clear date" could not be given for when Sweden would join the coalition. He added: “I think that we have to respect that every parliament has their own integrity, their own timelines, so I welcome that the President has made this clear that he will work with the parliament to ensure ratification, but exactly when has to be announced by the Turkish parliament.”
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