By GB News (Politics) | Created at 2026-10-04 02:36:40 | Updated at 2026-10-04 03:26:20
55 minutes ago
Wes Streeting has admitted that Donald Trump is right to demand Britain spends more on defence.
Speaking at a meeting of defence ministers of the Joint Expeditionary Force (Jef) in Iceland, Mr Streeting said the country must "step up" and ensure it's "ready to defeat our enemies".
"President Trump and his administration have been absolutely right to demand more of the UK, more of Europe," the Defence Secretary said.
He said that was a message he had "been really keen to make clear to our friends in the United States of America".
It marks a sharp U-turn on his previous comments about the President - in 2017, a month after he was elected as a Labour MP for the second time, Mr Streeting said: "Trump is such an odious, sad, little man."
"Imagine being proud to have that as your President," he added.
Back in Iceland on Saturday, he told The Telegraph: "We want to be deterring Russia, and we want to make sure that if deterrence fails, we're ready to defeat our enemies.
"It's why the Nato alliance is absolutely critical. Nato-first is our policy, but also it's why I've been really keen to make clear to our friends in the United States of America that, as far as we're concerned, President Trump and his administration have been absolutely right to demand more of the UK, more of Europe.
'President Trump and his administration have been absolutely right to demand more of the UK, more of Europe,' the Defence Secretary said
REUTERS
"We've got to step up and carry more of the responsibility for defending our own continent."
Mr Trump's second term has seen him turn on Nato allies in a bid to have them raise defence spending.
He has piled pressure on Denmark over Greenland, on Britain over the Falklands, and on Europe over Ukraine.
The President wants his allies to spend five per cent of their GDP on defence by 2035 - more than double the historical two per cent guideline.
Wes Streeting insisted Britain was 'well on our way' to spending three per cent of GDP on defence by 2030
PA
Labour, however, has failed to reveal how Britain will make it to just three per cent of that by 2030.
Mr Streeting insisted the country was "well on our way" to that goal.
"Bear in mind that when Labour came in, we were at 2.3 per cent," he said. "By next year, we'll be at 2.7 per cent. That's good going in a relatively short space of time."
But welfare costs taxpayers more than five times as much as defence - accounting for some 10.9 per cent of GDP.
With a Budget looming in just over three weeks' time, Mr Streeting said he felt the Ministry of Defence would have 'a more than sympathetic hearing' from the Chancellor
Labour has faced countless calls to slash the country's bloated benefits bill to pay for the defence of the nation.
But the Prime Minister himself has claimed that national security cannot "come at the expense of social security".
With a Budget looming in just over three weeks' time, Mr Streeting said he felt the Ministry of Defence would have "a more than sympathetic hearing" from the Chancellor.
"But at the same time we can't be complacent and just assume that we can send John Healey's resignation in as our spending review submission and not justify to him, to my colleagues across Government and to the public, why that investment is necessary," he said.
Mr Healey has so far signalled he will fully fund the defence investment plan at the despatch box - but will not outline a pathway to three per cent until the 2027 spending review.
