Rutte separates defence spending from welfare, points to growth
NATO secretary general Mark Rutte said Wednesday he was “absolutely confident” that the British government understood the need for a “credible path” to raise defence spending to 3.5% of GDP by 2035, while conceding that the exact “pathway” toward the goal would not be set out until next year’s spending review.
Speaking to BBC political editor Chris Mason after meeting Defence Secretary Wes Streeting and Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband in London, Rutte said ministers accepted the need to take yearly steps toward the alliance-wide target.
“I am absolutely confident that when it comes to the 3.5[%] they are there,” Rutte said. “I am absolutely confident that when it comes to the yearly increments, they totally take it and accept it, that they have to be there.”
“There has to be a credible path. What that credible path exactly will be, we will see with the spending review next year,” he added.
The 3.5% target was committed to by Sir Keir Starmer’s government last year, and Andy Burnham has recommitted to it since entering Downing Street. But Burnham has faced pressure to immediately set out a path toward an interim goal of 3% by 2030 — a benchmark that Chancellor John Healey had previously held up as a sign that Britain was serious about the alliance’s wider objective.
Rutte, a former Dutch prime minister, said he had been encouraging NATO members not to defer spending increases until the last minute. He said ministers understood the 2035 target could not be met “in one go in 2034.”
In his BBC interview, Rutte also drew a line between defence spending and welfare, arguing that economic growth was the key to ensuring military commitments could be met alongside other budgetary priorities.
“I don’t know all the details of the UK economy, I think this is something this government is now navigating,” Rutte said. “But I would say these are two separate issues.”
“One is, indeed, spending on defence, but the other is of course making sure that the economy is growing enough, so you can distribute the success of a growing economy amongst various income groups, various issues in the Budget, for example welfare and healthcare and the pensions,” he said.
“You have to do it all, and if you want to do it successfully, you need economic growth,” Rutte added.
The Conservatives have been pushing for defence spending increases to be funded through cuts to benefits, and criticised Burnham last week for saying that national security “can’t come at the expense of social security.” Rutte said he had been a prime minister himself for 14 years and that “you have to take tough decisions, and it’s not always easy,” without commenting directly on the Conservative proposal.