Robertson, who also previously served as the UK's defense secretary, was one of the co-authors of last year's UK Defense Strategic Review and currently sits in the House of Lords. Now he is warning Labor MPs that Britain's military spending promises and NATO commitments must be “covered from the national budget.”
Speaking at a strategic defense communications conference in London, Robertson said there was “no other way” to fund defense because “there is no money, there is no surplus.”
“This will be a problem for many Labor MPs,” he said, referring to necessary cuts to development aid, net-zero climate targets and transport.
High interest costs in the UK also rule out further borrowing. “I don't think that's the right solution,” Robertson said, although he did not rule out the idea of creating a multilateral defense bank to provide cheap defense loans and issuing war bonds as ways to reduce the burden of defense spending.
Robertson outlined the scale of the challenge, noting that The UK would need an extra £36 billion (over PLN 177 billion) a year to meet the new NATO target for 2035 regarding defense spending of 3.5%. GDP. Last year it spent 2.4%. GDP for defense.
When you consider that our total education budget is £95 billion (PLN 467 billion), the Home Office budget is £20 billion (PLN 98 billion), transport is £28 billion (over PLN 137 billion) and the justice budget is £12 billion (PLN 59 billion), you begin to realize that we are committing to spending painfully high amounts of taxpayers' money to make the country safer than it is today and to meet the conditions set by NATO
– he said.
British Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy told the BBC over the weekend that Prime Minister Keir Starmer's promise of three percent defense spending GDP is “absolutely sacred” and that money for new equipment and infrastructure “will be found.”
Robertson, however, stressed that Starmer had not explained how much it would cost to achieve this level of spending, saying such promises led “logically and inevitably to the conclusion that 'we are going to spend the money'.”
However, in the face of the growing threat from Russia, the UK has no choice but to increase defense spending [a nie tylko zapowiadać taki zamiar] – he warned.
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Some Labor Party members who have a “pacifist disposition” need to be persuaded to accept that “the only way to prevent war is to prepare for war,” he added.
Society is still too optimistic about the threat, has become too accustomed to the lifestyle we lead today, and still fails to see all the signs before our eyes that we are in danger and that we are also underprepared
Robertson added.
“While the political challenge of increasing military budgets is enormous, avoiding the issue is not an option,” he stressed.
— When the lights go out, when hospitals close and data centers fail due to lack of air conditioning, then society will rightly ask all of us: why didn't you do something sooner to solve this? And if we are attacked by cruise and ballistic missiles when deterrence fails, will we stand among the ruins of our cities, homes and schools and proudly say, well, at least we protected our fiscal policy? – he concluded.
I’m Ashley Davis as an editor, I’m committed to upholding the highest standards of integrity and accuracy in every piece we publish. My work is driven by curiosity, a passion for truth, and a belief that journalism plays a crucial role in shaping public discourse. I strive to tell stories that not only inform but also inspire action and conversation.
