Britain Plans To Increase Military Spending

Keir Starmer, the British prime minister, said yesterday that Britain would significantly raise its military spending by 2027. The announcement was meant to send a signal about burden-sharing to President Trump before the leaders’ meeting at the White House tomorrow. The change would amount to an increase of 13.4 billion pounds ($17 billion) in military spending per year. It would be paid for by scaling back on overseas development aid. Starmer said he regretted the cuts, but he presented them as a temporary measure in a challenging new security environment. Recent statements from Trump about Ukraine have reinforced fears that the U.S. is retreating from its decades-long commitment to Europe’s defense. And NATO’s secretary general recently called on members to spend “considerably more” than 3 percent of economic output on defense.