See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy JAMES TAPSFIELD, UK POLITICAL EDITOR Published: 09:17 BST, 18 June 2026 | Updated: 16:23 BST, 18 June 2026
The US demanded Britain 'steps up' today as Keir Starmer's new Defence Secretary was sent to a Nato summit without any plan for extra funding.Dan Jarvis stressed the 'challenging' international situation as he attended the gathering with counterparts at the alliance's HQ in Brussels.But Mr Jarvis was embarrassingly unable to provide clarity on the UK's spending commitments, after an extraordinary meltdown over the Defence Investment Plan. His predecessor John Healey dramatically quit last week accusing the PM and Rachel Reeves of failing to keep the country safe.That was the culmination of months of haggling over how to fill an estimated £28billion hole in budgets over the next four years. The Treasury had only agreed to an uplift of around £10billion, with no target for increasing spending to 3 per cent of GDP in this Parliament.And Sir Keir has signalled that although Mr Jarvis could reprioritise parts of the Defence Investment Plan, he will not have any more cash available. US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth swiped at the 'era of free riding' this morning, criticising Nato members that 'have yet to show a credible path' to ramping up spending. Asked what his message was to Mr Jarvis, Mr Hegseth said 'the more the UK spends on defence the stronger Nato is going to be'.'We need you guys to step up and do even more, spend even more,' he said. Mr Hegseth also took a potshot at Sir Keir's refusal to allow bases to be used for offensive strikes on Iran.'If we need access to basing, whether it's in the UK or say Diego Garcia - we can't live in a world where other countries are standing at the end of a runway with a clipboard trying to decide what flies and what doesn't. It's not going to work for us, it's not good in contingencies,' he said.Dan Jarvis (right next to Pete Hegseth) stressed the 'challenging' international situation during the meeting at the alliance's HQ in BrusselsNato defence ministers lined up for a so-called family photo at the gathering today
