{"id":39610,"date":"2019-05-14T14:15:09","date_gmt":"2019-05-14T14:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2019\/05\/14\/uks-top-diplomat-urges-decisive-defense-budget-boost\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T20:54:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T20:54:29","slug":"uks-top-diplomat-urges-decisive-defense-budget-boost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/2019\/05\/14\/uks-top-diplomat-urges-decisive-defense-budget-boost\/","title":{"rendered":"UK\u2019s top diplomat urges \u2018decisive\u2019 defense budget boost"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

LONDON \u2013 Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has called for British defense spending to be \u201cdecisively\u201d increased over the next decade to help protect the country from possible changes to the global balance of power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI believe it is time for the next Strategic Defence and Security Review to ask whether, over the coming decade, we should decisively increase the proportion of GDP we devote to defence,” he told the Lord Mayors Banquet in London May 13.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reinforcing Britain\u2019s role in the world through hard power was critical, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any additional funds for defense would need to be for new capabilities and not simply plugging gaps in existing plans, he told the audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Britain is spending around \u00a338 billion, or $49 billion, on defense this year; just above 2 percent of its annual gross domestic product. That\u2019s a figure that has been steadily declining for years. By the end of the Cold War the figure stood at around 4 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hunt didn\u2019t spell out in his speech exactly what the defense spending target should be, but the Daily Telegraph newspaper reported this morning that he favors matching the US level of spending at around 4 percent of GDP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Parliamentary defence committee and others have consistently argued that British defense spending should be around the 3 percent mark to help transform the military at a time when the defense budget is under huge pressure. That\u2019s a move the Treasury and the Cabin Office have always resisted.<\/p>\n\n\n\t