Government rejects claim it missed Nato spending target

The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) has claimed the government’s defence spending has dropped to 1.98 per cent, missing its target to spend at least two per cent of national income on defence.

According to the IISS, the missed target is due to the British economy growing faster than the defence budget.

In its report, the IISS said only two member nations met NATO’s defence-spending target, with Greece and Estonia spent two per cent or more. Meanwhile, the document citied that the UK had fallen short by about £380 million.

Authors of the study, Lucie Béraud-Sudreau, research fellow for defence economics and procurement, and Bastian Giegerich, director of defence and military analysis, cautioned against ‘setting too much to store by the two per cent figure when seeking to understand states’ defence capabilities and commitment to the transatlantic alliance’.

The researchers explained that there is ‘no shared understanding’ of what constitutes a nation's defence expenditure. Specifically it pointed out that Nato's definition of defence spend includes not only defence ministry budgets but also pensions, expenditure for peacekeeping and humanitarian operations, and research and development costs.

However, a spokesman for the Ministry of Defence, refuted the finding: “These figures are wrong. Nato's own figures clearly show that the UK spends over two per cent of its GDP on defence.

"Our defence budget is the biggest in Europe, the second largest in Nato, and it is growing each year as we invest £178 billion in new equipment and the UK steps up globally, with new ships, submarines and aircraft over the next decade."