The Times – 25 April 2024

Sir, The government’s decision to turn its aspiration to spend 2.5 per cent of GDP on defence by 2030 into a firm commitment, with cumulative increases specified for each intervening year, is to be welcomed. Labour should now be pressed to match that pledge unambiguously. Anyone who resents an extra £75 billion for defence between now and 2030 should understand that we regularly invested between 4.5 and 5.1 per cent of GDP on defence in the 1980s, and were still spending at least 3 per cent up to the mid-1990s, years after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The most important factor in preventing a war with Russia will, nevertheless, be what the West allows, or does not allow, to happen in Ukraine. If Putin is made to fail, the threat to NATO countries will recede for a generation. If he can claim success, further aggression will follow, with heightened risks of incalculable loss, as in previous global conflicts.

Sir JULIAN LEWIS MP
Chairman, Defence Committee, 2015-19
House of Commons
London SW1A 0AA