The UK government has reiterated its commitment to defence collaboration with the United States, following parliamentary questions on the scale of procurement spending on US defence items and services, and potential moves towards greater domestic defence investment.
Liberal Democrat MP Martin Wrigley submitted a series of questions to the Ministry of Defence (MoD), seeking clarity on the proportion of the UK defence budget spent on US procurement, whether funding was being redirected in response to comments by US President Donald Trump on Ukraine, and whether the UK would take steps to divest from US defence procurement.
In response, Minister of State for Defence Maria Eagle stated that “this information is not held in the format requested” when asked about the percentage of the defence budget spent on US goods and services.
On the broader issue of shifting defence investment towards UK industry, Eagle reaffirmed the government’s commitment to strengthening the UK defence industrial base while maintaining its long-standing alliance with the US. “The United States is the United Kingdom’s primary defence and security ally. Our collaboration in defence is mutually beneficial, and we maintain robust working partnerships in the areas of intelligence, nuclear, science and technology, and operations,” she said.
Eagle also highlighted the UK’s upcoming Defence Industrial Strategy, which will “review the consideration of sovereign capability and capacity” and align security priorities with economic growth.
Addressing concerns over US reliability as a defence partner, particularly in light of Trump’s previous statements questioning support for Ukraine, the Minister reaffirmed the UK’s commitment to Kyiv. She noted that since July 2024, the UK had provided “over £5.26 billion in military aid and financial support to Ukraine, including a £3 billion annual military aid package and a £2.26 billion loan for military spending.”
On the prospect of divesting from US defence procurement, Eagle said that the UK’s economic relationship with the US remains “equitable, balanced, and reciprocal,” citing the $1.5 trillion in mutual investment between the two nations, which collectively supports more than 2.5 million jobs.
There’s a lot of Mandelsonian Manoeuvres in the Dark going on there.
Trying to maintain polite relations, whilst furiously looking for resilient alternatives before President Trump and his mushrooms turn their coat on us as well.
I do find some of the commentary on this forum at bit short termist regarding the complete abandonment of American defence ties, both military-to-military and industrial. In less than four years there could be a completely different administration in the White House, and the potential monetary and political cost of cutting ties now could be huge.
And Europe could easily turn the other way based on recent elections.
Defence industrial independence is important, but we can’t afford to do everything on our own. Trump is mostly talk, and won’t be around forever. I’m not a fan of Kier Starmer generally, but he is handling this situation pretty well from my perspective.
Agreed.
The problem with your entirely different White House scenario is that currently the front runner for that is the Orange One’s hand puppet J D Vance and unless the Democrats can conjure up legitimate challenger from somewhere who can show the current administration up for what they truly are i.e. A bunch of jumped up self publicists with narcissistic personality disorders and in certain cases possibly even a god complex, then we are in for at least seven more years of the same.
That has the potential to cause massive issues for our national defence so therefore anyone who isn’t planning for the worst whilst hoping for the best is quite frankly an idiot.
AOC. AOC. AOC.
(Fat chance the Democrats will ever put her forwards).
It’s hardly short termist. Trump is a piece of sh*te, but MAGA is going to continue post Trump (and that’s assuming that MAGA don’t secure alterations to the constitution to allow for more Trump terms).
J.D. Vance is a theocratic fascist, with a stated objective of turning the US into a “Christian Nation” which is a sentiment that a lot of republican voters get behind (and FYI they want to export their theocratic fascism to Europe, which in their eyes is the “Great Liberal evil doing Satans work”).
Even if the Democrats win, we will be living with the shadow of MAGA presidencies and the US being an unreliable ally at best for a long time.
Likewise, I would hope that this is something of a blip in general in our relationship. That said, I have two caveats to that:
1) We were, in my opinion, always too reliant on the US to cover us in terms of defence and to supply us in terms of equipment; this gives us a useful bump to actually get some more capability into the armed forces and more industrial workshare domestic (and, to a lesser extent, towards Euro equipment that may provide better synergies).
2) You’re quite right that every politician in Europe probably has a 4-year countdown running from 20th Jan. But, we need to remember that Trump was elected with a 64% majority- he resonates with the viewpoint of an increasing number of Americans it would seem. That likely includes international stance. If that’s the case, then we need to bear in mind that move away from Europe may continue beyond Trump’s presidency- and we should plan accordingly.
He was elected with less than 50% of the popular vote, which everyone should know by now FFS.
That’s simplistic and also doesn’t reflect the complexities of the America voting system.
Trump got 49.9% of the popular vote, Harris got 48.3%- so he still won the popular vote. An admittedly slim majority, but a higher percentage than he got last time- which potentially indicates a growing popularity.
The Republicans also won both Houses (by greater margins than the popular vote, which is what I was referring to) and all swing States, which I would say demonstrates an overall swing Republican in the population as a whole.
That is possible but I think the long term trend is for the Democrats to be pro NATO but rather anti-British while the Republicans have been drifting towards isolationism for a while now. Even if they continue to flip-flop away reversing one another’s policies we will be getting a poor deal from staying close to them.
We need to be more like France but the transition will take time.
I wouldn’t say it’s short-termist.
Trump might only be there for 4 years (assuming they don’t manage to change the constitution to enable a 3rd term) but MAGA is going to last longer than Trump himself. What happens if JD Vance takes over after him?
Even if the Democrats win the next election, I think the status quo we’ve had since the end of WW2 is coming to an end. The US is growing more isolationist and will distance themselves from Europe and NATO, whether quickly or gradually.
I don’t advocate for cutting all ties immediately to the US, but I DO believe we need to wean ourselves off of them and become more independent, more self-sufficient in defence, and look to build more British where we can, which would boost our domestic defence industry.
It’ll be gradual, but we need to wean ourselves off the US, at least to the point where we’re not so dependent on them, where we don’t have to worry whether the next POTUS will honour Article 5 or not, or will help out allies, or might turn the supply taps off on a whim.
What difference would a new administration make. Biden withheld permission to use Storm Shadow for months because it had US components. Why would Europe, the UK etc carry on leaving themselves a hostage to fortune, when they are perfectly capable of matching or improving on any US technology, and be totally in control if it. I see many of the F35 orders from numerous countries being rolled back or cancelled in the coming months, as Europe rebuilds it’s military industrial complex. The only loser from Trump will be the US.
The simple fact is the US can no longer be trusted to act in any other way than it’s own narrow interests, and that is a risk the rest of the world is prepared to take any longer.
Sensible comment but I think you could well draw the opposite conclusion – if our security is going to be beholden to volatile personalities in the White House then I think we need to move slowly away from that.
There’s a lot to be said for the French doctrine of strategic autonomy.
I agree ….mostly. However I understand the nervousness of commentators. I have been amazed how quickly things can change with new personalities holding the reins of power.
We aren’t the French – we are so invested in the US that we don’t have a choice right now. Plus, it would be stupid to deliberately break things. Many of our defence crown jewels have already been sold to the US or have moved substantial parts of their operations to the US. Over the longer term we definately need to think about ‘strategic autonomy’ the way the French have been doing for decades. Trump is not a glitch, he represents the new normal in the US. NATO is in question. Trump’s adoration of Putin is real. We have to face the facts or Europe will turn into a kind of northern geopolitical version of Africa, powerless and pushed around by external interests.
That is not an argument to stay connected with a bunch of raving arse bandits stabbing you in the back. The yanks have always been like it and it is time to realise we should never have had a thing to do with them and should change that right now and forever and if it breaks a lot of things then tough shit we have to make the change urgently and completely
We can see beyond absolutely any doubt at all that the USA can NOT be trusted. Time we ditched USA in anything defence, anything at all from joint exercises to bullets, intelligence to fighter jets and certainly our nuclear deterrent. They can NOT be trusted, ditch them totally. U would rather to business with the russians and Chinese, at least they haven’t stabbed supposed friends in the back. The yanks are a collection of c****
We have been a complete lap dog for the USA for decades, militarily, diplomatically, economically. We have been what we think is clever, snuggling up to the USA and pretending there is some special relationship, while living under their defence umbrella and cutting our own defences right back.
There is no ‘special relationship’ in American eyes, we are just a useful small ally, nothing special.
With the MAGA administration, the USA ceases to be the leader of the free world, with respect for international law and support for democracy worldwide. Instead, we have isolationist fortress America, open for business with autocrats everywhere and with a marked dislike of Europe, excepting Putin, Orban, the AFD and similar anti-western nut jobs.
We can have no strategic interest in purchasing US weapons that we can’t use without their approval. We need to switch to joint UK equipment and development ventures with Europe, Japan, Canada, whoever, anyone except the USA. It will take years to do, because we are locked into so much US kit, from Trident and Wedgetail through to F-36, Rivet Joint, Chinooks and the rest.
All we can do is gently disentangle ourselves over time. We need to throw in with Europe or others on high-end, new technology kit. And it will need to be a rule that anything we buy from the US in future must give us sovereign control, free of US interference. No more witholding the source codes for F-35 or being able to shut down Intel from Rivet Joint, etc, unless we have complete control in our own hands, we should say no thanks, we’ll shop elsewhere.
If USA comes back to its senses in 4 or 8 years, we can always reconsider things.
Well said 👏🏾