Prime Minister's Oral Statement to the House of Commons on security and defence - Feb 25

Mr. Speaker, three years since Russia launched its vile assault on Ukraine, I would like to address the international situation and the implications for Britain's national security.

Mr. Speaker, in my first week as Prime Minister, I travelled to the NATO summit in Washington with a simple message.

That NATO and our allies could trust this Government would fulfil Britain and indeed the Labour Party's historic role to put our collective security first.

I spoke of my great pride, Mr Speaker, to lead the party that was a founding member of NATO, the inheritor of the legacy of Clement Attlee and Ernest Bevin – who not only stood behind Winston Churchill in wartime but ‘won the peace' by establishing the great post-war order here andabroad.

Mr. Speaker, it is a proud legacy but in a world like ours it is also a heavy one. Because the historical load we must carry to fulfil our duty is not as light as it once was.

We must bend our backs across this House because these times demand a united Britain, and we must deploy all of our resources to achieve security.

Mr. Speaker, as a young man, I vividly remember the Berlin Wall coming down. It felt as if we were casting off the shackles of history, continent united by freedom and democracy. If you had told me then, that in my lifetime we would see Russian tanks rolling into European cities again I would not have believed you.

Yet here we are, in a world where everything has changed. Because three years ago that is exactly what happened.

Britain can be proud of our response. British families opened their doors to fleeing Ukrainian citizens, the ‘yellow and light blue' fluttering on town halls and churches, the length and breadth of this country.

And the party opposite, in Government was robust in our response. I supported that in opposition; I applaud them for it now.

And we have built on that, bringing our support for Ukraine to a record level this year.

Mr. Speaker, we should not pretend that any of this has been easy.

Working people have already felt the cost of Russian actions through rising prices and bills. 

Nonetheless, one of the great lessons of our history is that instability in Europe will always wash up on our shores, and that tyrants like Putin only respond to strength.

Russia is a menace in our waters, in our airspace and on our streets. They have launched cyber-attacks on our NHS – only seven years ago, a chemical weapons attack on the streets of Salisbury.

We must stand by Ukraine – because if we do not achieve a lasting peace, then the economic instability, the threats to our security, they will only grow.

And so, as the nature of that conflict changes, as it has in recent weeks, it brings our response into sharper focus.

A new era that we must meet, as we have so often in the past, together – and with strength.

Mr. Speaker, the fundamentals of British strategy are unchanged.

I know that the current moment is volatile, but there is still no good reason why they cannot endure. 

So let me spell out to the House exactly how we will renew them for these times.

First, NATO is the bedrock of our security – and will remain so.

It has brought peace for 75 years. It is as important today as the day on which it was founded. 

Putin thought he would weaken NATO; he has achieved the exact opposite.

And it remains the organisation which receives the vast bulk of our defence effort, in every domain, and that must continue. 

Second, we must reject any false choice between our allies, between one side of the Atlantic or the other. That is against our history – country andparty – because it is against our fundamental national interest.

The US is our most important bilateral alliance. It straddles everything from nuclear technology, to NATO, to Five Eyes, AUKUS and beyond.

It has survived countless external challenges in the past. We've fought wars together; we're the closest partners in trade, growth and security.

So this week when I meet President Trump I will be clear. I want this relationship to go from strength to strength.

But Mr. Speaker, strength in this world also depends on a new alliance with Europe.

As I said in Paris last week, our commitment to European defence and security is unwavering. But now is the time to deepen it.

So we will find new ways to work together on our collective interests and threats, protecting our borders, bringing our companies together, seeking out new opportunities for growth.

Third, Mr Speaker, we seek peace not conflict, and we believe in the power of diplomacy to deliver that end.

That, of course, is most pressing in Ukraine. Nobody in this House or this country wants the bloodshed to continue – nobody.

And Mr. Speaker, I have seen the devastation in Ukraine first-hand.

What you see in places like Bucha – that never leaves you.

But for peace to endure in Ukraine and beyond, we need deterrence. 

I know that this House will endorse the principle of winning peace through strength.

So we will continue to stand behind the people of Ukraine. We must ensure they negotiate their future and we will continue to put them in the strongest position for a lasting peace.

Fourth, Mr. Speaker, we must change our national security posture.

Because a generational challenge requires a generational response.

That will demand some extremely difficult and painful choices.

And through those choices, as hard as they are, we must also seek unity.

A whole society effort that will reach into the lives, the industries and the homes of the British people.

I started this statement by recalling the era of Attlee and Bevin, and, of course, this year we will mark many anniversaries of that greatest generation.

We must find courage in our history. Courage in who we are as a nation because courage is what our own era now demands of us.

So, starting today, I can announce this Government will begin the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War.

We will deliver our commitment to spend 2.5% of GDP on defence but we will bring it forward so that we reach that level in 2027.

And we will maintain that for the rest of this Parliament.

Let me spell that out, Mr Speaker. That means spending £13.4 billion more on defence every year from 2027.

But Mr. Speaker, we also face enemies that are sophisticated in cyber-attacks, sabotage, even assassination.

And so our intelligence and security services are an increasingly vital part of protecting both us and our allies.

So on top of the funding of 2.5% that I have just announced, going forward, we will recognise the incredible contribution of our intelligence and security services to the defence of the nation, which means, taken together, we will be spending 2.6% on defence by 2027.

But Mr. Speaker, we must go further still.

I have long argued that in the face of ongoing, generational challenges, all European allies must step up and do more for our own defence.

So, subject to economic and fiscal conditions, and aligned with our strategic and operational needs, we will also set a clear ambition for Defence spending to rise to 3% of GDP in the next Parliament.

Mr Speaker, I want to be very clear, the nature of warfare has changed – significantly. That is clear from the battlefield in Ukraine, and so we must modernise and reform our capabilities as we invest.

I equally want to be very clear that like any other investment we make we must seek value for money.

And that's why we're putting in place a new Defence Reform and Efficiency Plan, jointly led by my Right Honourable Friends the Chancellor and the Defence Secretary.

This investment means that the UK will strengthen its position, as a leader in NATO and in the collective defence of our continent, and we should welcome that role.

It is good for our national security. It is also good for the defining mission of this government to restore growth to our economy.  And we should be optimistic of what it can deliver in those terms.

But Mr. Speaker, in the short-term, it can only be funded through hard choices.

And in this case, that means we will cut our spending on development assistance, moving from 0.5% of GNI today to 0.3% in 2027 fully funding our increased investment in Defence. 

I want to be clear to the House, that is not an announcement I am happy to make. 

I am proud of our pioneering record on overseas development, and we will continue to play a key humanitarian role in Sudan, in Ukraine and in Gaza, tackling climate change, supporting multinational efforts on global health and challenges like vaccination. 

In recent years the development budget was redirected towards asylum backlogs, paying for hotels. So, as we are clearing that backlog at a record pace there are efficiencies that will reduce the need to cut spending on our overseas programmes.

But nonetheless, it remains a cut – and I will not pretend otherwise.

We will do everything we can to return to a world where that is not the case and rebuild our capacity on development.

But at times like this, the defence and security of the British people must always come first. That is the number one priority of this Government. 

But Mr. Speaker, it is not just about spending. Our whole approach to national security must now change.

We will have to ask British industry, British universities, British businesses, and the British people to play a bigger part; use this to renew the social contract of our nation, the rights and responsibilities that we owe one another. 

The first test of our defence policy is, of course, whether it keeps our country safe. But the second should be whether it improves the conditions of the British people, does it help provide the economic security that working people need.

Because ultimately, as Attlee and Bevin knew, that is fundamental to national security as well.

We will use this investment as an opportunity.

We will translate defence spending into British growth, British jobs, British skills, British innovation; we will use the full powers of the Procurement Act to rebuild our industrial base.

And, Mr. Speaker, as the Strategic Defence Review is well underway and across Government we are conducting a number of other reviews relevant to national security, it is obvious that these reviews must pull together.

So before the NATO summit in June, we will publish a single National Security Strategy and we will bring it to this House.

Because Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, that is how we must meet the threats of our age – together and with strength. 

A new approach to defence. A revival of our industrial base. A deepening of our alliances.

The instruments of our national power brought together, creating opportunity, assuring our allies, delivering security for our country.

Mr. Speaker, at moments like these in our past, Britain has stood up to be counted. It has come together, and it has demonstrated strength. 

That is what the security of our country needs now, and it is what this Government will deliver.

And I commend this statement to the House.