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• The Guardian
• Mon Jun 2 2025

3m ago 09.24 CEST Starmer defends not yet setting firm date for getting defence spending up to 3% of GDP, saying he rejects 'performative fantasy politics' Starmer repeats his claim that he has an ambition to get defence spending up to 3% of GDP in the next parliament. Q: But ?ambition? is not a commitment. I can have a commitment to lose weight. That does not mean it will happen. Starmer defends not making a firm commitment. He says, during the election campaign, he said he wanted defence spending to rise to 2.5% of GDP, but did not set a date because he did not have a plan for achieving that. He only set a date for 2.5% when he had an economic plan for achieving it. He goes on: What you can take from this is, yes, that 3% but I am not, as the prime minister of a Labour government, going to make a commitment as to the precise date until I can be sure precisely where the money is coming from, how we can make good on that commitment, because I don?t believe in performative fantasy politics, and certainly not on defence and security. Share

8m ago 09.18 CEST Q: But it is more than a phrase. Are you saying you think you might have to send British troops to fight to defend a county like Lithuania? Starmer replies: ?I very much hope not.? But the country has to prepare, he says. He says people did not expect to see a European country invaded. But then Russia invaded Ukraine. Q: There is talk of having planes that can deliver nuclear weapons. Won?t that make nuclear war more likely? Starmer says he does not want to talk about the proposal for air-launched nuclear weapons. (The Sunday Times said yesterday Starmer is considering this as an option.) Q: But we know that in the past governments like Callaghan?s have lied about their nuclear programmes. Can you assure us you are not preparing for nuclear escalation? Starmer says the nuclear deterrent has kept the peace for 80 years. That is why the UK is fully committed to Nato, he says. Nato has been the single most effective alliance for keeping the peace for 80 years, and our job is not just to celebrate that as we do, but to ask ourselves the searching question as I ask myself on a daily basis, which is, how do we ensure that Nato preserves the peace for decades to come for this generation? Share

14m ago 09.13 CEST Starmer interviewed on Today programme Nick Robinson is interviewing Keir Starmer on the Today programme now. Q: What do you mean when you say you want the UK to be ?war ready?? Starmer says the world has changed. There is greater instability on defence and security than there has been for many, many years, and greater threats, and that?s obviously having a direct impact back into the United Kingdom. Hence the review. I wanted a review that told me the challenges we?re actually facing and likely to face for the foreseeable future. Starmer says the best way to prevent conflict is to deter it. That is why Nato is so important, he says. Share