Bridget Phillipson blows gap in Sir Keir Starmer’s robust speak on defence – as Education Secretary insists PM will solely hike spending by 0.2 per cent of GDP

Sir Keir Starmer will only hike defence spending by 0.2 per cent of GDP, a Cabinet minister indicated on Sunday.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said Labour’s manifesto pledge of hiking it to 2.5 per cent was an ‘ambitious’ target.

She suggested it will not be increased higher despite growing calls to do so.

Britain currently spends 2.3 per cent of GDP on defence, equivalent to £54billion. It would cost around an extra £6billion or so a year by 2030 to hike it to 2.5 per cent.

Ms Phillipson’s comments meant a speech by Sir Keir Starmer on Sunday in which he insisted that ‘peace only comes through strength’ fell flat.

Speaking at the Scottish Labour Party’s annual conference, the Prime Minister said that Britain will play a ‘leading’ role in the Ukraine war and that it was time to ‘take responsibility for our security, our continent’ and ‘do more’ by hiking defence spending.

But current and ex-military chiefs have warned that any hike needs to raise defence spending to more like 3 to 3.5 per cent of GDP given the scale of global instability and warnings from the US that it will pull support.

NATO chief Mark Rutte said allies of the Western military alliance need to be spending ‘considerably more’ than 3 per cent while US President Donald Trump has called for 5 per cent.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said Labour’s target of increasing defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP was ‘ambitious’ and suggested the Government would not invest higher than that

Sir Keir Starmer said in a speech in Glasgow yesterday that ‘peace only comes through strength’

However, when repeatedly asked whether spending could be boosted above 2.5 per cent because the target is ‘not enough’, Ms Phillipson told the BBC: ‘We will be spending much more on defence

‘And our allies need to step up alongside that. But let’s be clear, 2.5 per cent is ambitious. We will get there, but it is ambitious.’

She refused to set out the timetable for when it will be reached.

There is growing speculation that Sir Keir will use a trip to Washington on Thursday for talks with Mr Trump to announce the timetable for boosting defence spending.

The party promised in its manifesto to boost it to 2.5 per cent but has failed since the election last July to set out a timetable.

By contrast, the Tories said they would do it by 2030.

Speaking at the conference in Glasgow on Sunday, Sir Keir said: ‘Peace only comes through strength.

‘Nobody wants the bloodshed to continue, nobody, least of all, the Ukrainians.

‘But after everything that they have suffered, after everything that they have fought for, there could be no discussion about Ukraine without Ukraine and the people of Ukraine must have a long term, secure future.’

This was a reference to the fact that Ukraine has been sidelined from peace talks, which got underway between the United States and Russia in Saudi Arabia last week.

Sir Keir added: ‘As we enter a new phase in this conflict, we must now deepen our solidarity even further.

‘It’s not just moral urgency that demands this. It’s also in our national interest. Russia already menaces our waters, our online spaces, even at times, our streets…I’ve been saying for some time that we Europeans, including the United Kingdom, have to do more for our defence and security.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Sir Keir said that any discussion about the future of Ukraine must include Ukraine, as the country was sidelined from peace talks between the US and Russia last week

‘The US is right about that in this new era. We can’t cling on to the comforts of the past.

‘It’s time to take responsibility for our security, our continent, and I’m clear that Britain will take a leading responsibility.’

Repeating his pledge to deploy British troops in Ukraine to police any ceasefire deal, he added: ‘We have to be ready to play our role if a [peacekeeping Army] force is required in Ukraine, once a peace agreement is reached.

‘And we have to be ready to reshape our economy with industrial policy, to stand up for Ukraine, to stand up for Europe, but most of all, to stand up for our security because Ukraine is vital to us.’

Most Government departments have been asked to model spending cuts of up to 11 per cent in a bid to find the cash to boost defence.