Wes Streeting, the Defence Secretary, has said more defence spending will come at next year’s spending review on top of the biggest sustained rise since the Cold War, but that it must be spent more wisely, according to remarks made on board HMS Prince of Wales in Oslo.
Introducing Mark Rutte, NATO’s Secretary General, at the end of the first day of the Atlantic Future Forum on Wednesday, Streeting told delegates that defence is top of the agenda in Britain.
He said: “We are already delivering the biggest sustained increase in defense spending since the end of the Cold War, and as our Chancellor, Finance Minister announced only the other week at the budget, there is more to come at next year’s spending review, but it’s not just about spending more. It is about spending more wisely. Investment is a statement of our commitment, but capability is the demonstration of our credibility.” He went on to call for stronger capability, a stronger industrial base across the alliance and stronger alliances, all building towards a stronger Europe and a stronger NATO.
Streeting thanked the crew of HMS Prince of Wales for turning the ship around from flagship of a major operation, Operation Firecrest, only days earlier into what he called a “side hustle of a conference venue”. Hl
He told the audience that “you don’t need to be a scholar to know that we are in the most turbulent and threatening time since the end of the Cold War”, and that European NATO has been asked to step up and, under Mark Rutte’s leadership, is doing so.
He said: “We should never forget what the alliance is centered around: freedom, democracy, and liberty.” Allies, he added, are unquestionably stronger together militarily and economically whatever the political ups and downs and transatlantic challenges.
Streeting also praised Jens Stoltenberg’s move from NATO to become Norway’s finance minister, joking: “I’m all in favor, by the way, of people with extensive experience in defense becoming finance ministers. We’ve got a great one in John Healey in the UK, and it’s doing rather well for the Ministry of Defense.” He also teased Rutte over his early career at Unilever: “And if you can merge a margarine producer and a soap maker, I’m sure you can manage to get all members of the NATO alliance singing from the same hymn sheet at all times”.
Rutte told the forum that Britain’s Budget commits it to reaching 3 per cent of GDP in 2030 on the way to 3.5 per cent by 2035, doubling defence spending in ten years. HMS Prince of Wales has spent three months leading NATO warships in the High North, and Healey quit as Defence Secretary over a funding row before becoming Chancellor.
