NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte welcomed the UK's long-awaited Defence Investment Plan (DIP) on Tuesday, saying it was a "good step" towards meeting the alliance's defence spending goals.
The UK's outgoing Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced earlier in the day that Britain would spend almost £300 billion (€348 billion) over the next four years to modernise its armed forces amid rising threats.
Starmer, expected to leave office next month after losing the support of Labour MPs, announced that the overall defence budget would increase by £15 billion (€17 billion) over the next four years to almost £300 billion, as he launched the 10-year DIP.
"Last year I made the decision in the national interest to reprioritise aid spending towards defence and achieved the biggest uplift in defence spending since the end of the Cold War," Starmer said in a speech.
"That was the right choice because the world has changed. National security is economic security.”
