LONDON — Britain is running out of time to boost its defenses in response to the threat posed by recent Russian actions, the country’s military chief said on Friday, after months of delays to the country’s Defence Investment Plan.
“Russia is definitely raising the stakes and risks crossing a line,” Chief of the Defence Staff Richard Knighton told BBC Radio. “We need to spend more on defense and do it faster.”
The Defence Investment Plan will lay out the funding for military equipment and services to ensure the armed forces move to a state of “warfighting readiness,” but reports say it has been held up since last year by budget rows within the government.
Defence Minister John Healey said on Monday that Prime Minister Keir Starmer was determined to publish it before a July 7 NATO summit.
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U.S. President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly called on Starmer and other European leaders to spend more on defense and become less reliant on Washington for the continent’s security, is due to attend the summit.
Threats greatest since the Cold War
Knighton said the risks and threats to Britain were greater than at any time since the Cold War, and the government needed to spend on defense accordingly.
“The challenge for ministers is to make those difficult trade-off decisions,” he said.
Media reports say military chiefs have warned Starmer that there is a £28 billion ($38 billion) shortfall in funding over the next four years, and say that is behind the delay to the investment plan.
Starmer has pledged the largest sustained increase in defense spending since the Cold War, aiming to lift it to 3% of national output in the next parliament, but he has been criticized for not following through on his promises.
George Robertson, who served in the 1990s as Britain’s defense secretary and then as chief of NATO, said in April that there was a gap between Starmer’s rhetoric and action and he was “not willing to make the necessary investment” in defense.
Knighton said Russia was stepping up its threat, with more incursions into British airspace and through regular “probing, challenging, testing” of defenses, as well as being behind cyberattacks, sabotage and attempts to steal technology.
“We do need to step up and enhance our capability as the threats from potential adversaries grow,” he said.