UK pledges defence spending of 3 per cent of GDP by 2030
Chancellor John Healey left funding details to a spending review next year and pledged £10 billion in additional support for Ukraine.
Britain will raise defence spending to 3 per cent of GDP by 2030, Chancellor John Healey pledged in his budget on 28 October 2026, without specifying how the increase would be funded. He said those decisions would be addressed through next year’s wider government spending review.
The commitment is an intermediate step towards the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s (NATO) target of 3.5 per cent of GDP by 2035. Healey said the government would examine public expenditure and alternative financing arrangements, including joint procurement with Finland, Poland and the Netherlands.
The Treasury said £4.7 billion needed to cover gaps in the Defence Investment Plan would come from shifting capital funding within government budgets. It did not identify which projects would lose funding. The plan for developing Britain’s armed forces was published earlier in the year following lengthy delays.
Healey was delivering his first budget as chancellor under Prime Minister Andy Burnham. Before the statement, the two spoke with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and promised a further £10 billion in economic and military assistance for Ukraine.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte welcomed the announcement as a credible route towards the alliance’s spending commitment. Kelly Maddison of manufacturing body Make UK Defence, however, called for clarity on how the 2030 goal would be reached, saying industry needed confidence in long-term defence commitments to invest.
