We believe the Government’s plan to increase national security expenditure to 5% and defence expenditure to 3.5% is a laudable aim. We do however believe there is far too little urgency about this planned increase.
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With increasing instability in the world and doubts about NATO, we feel the Government should urgently prioritise defence spending above other commitments. An article in The Times on 14/04/26 highlighted this lack of urgency on the Government’s stated defence commitments. Defence spending during the Cold War was 4-7% of GDP. Preventing a problem is always less expensive than fixing it. Defence expenditure during WW1 and WW2 peaked at 47% and 80% of GDP respectively. By spending 5% or more of GDP now we may deter any aggressor and avoid the high financial and human cost of a hot war.