Starmer to rally European allies at Nato summit amid concerns over US stance | Nato
Keir Starmer will seek to work with European allies to shore up support for NATO at a summit in Ankara on Tuesday, amid concerns that Donald Trump could further destabilize the military alliance with threats over defense spending.
Downing Street said the prime minister and other international leaders would focus on “building a stronger and more European NATO” as they sought to assuage the US president’s concerns about the Turkish capital.
The UK government has withdrawn a harsh criticism from the US ambassador to NATO that “some allies have done more than others”; Trump is expected to chastise countries, including the UK, for not making further progress towards meeting the target of spending 3.5% of GDP on defense by 2035.
“We reject these allegations. The UK has always met its NATO spending commitments and remains one of the alliance’s best defense hubs,” the Prime Minister’s official spokesman told reporters, adding that he did not expect Starmer to receive “contempt” from the US president.
The NATO summit, expected to be the last international trip of Starmer’s premiership, could be his last opportunity to rebuild relations with Trump following disagreements over war with Iran. But Whitehall officials fear he could be sidelined.
Starmer is due to travel to Ankara with less than two weeks to go before the end of his term, while prime minister-in-waiting Andy Burnham is also in talks with civil servants at home about transition plans. Starmer has been accused of leaving himself with a £5bn funding gap in his defense investment plan.
No 10 insisted the UK’s contribution to NATO, considered the cornerstone of its national security, “will not falter” and that defense spending will rise to 2.7% of GDP by 2027-28; but there is no firm commitment to reaching an interim benchmark of 3% by the end of the decade.
“In a new era of threats, together with our allies, the prime minister will focus on building an ever stronger and more European NATO, ready to support Ukraine and confront the long-term threat posed by an increasingly reckless and dangerous Russia,” the spokesman said.
Downing Street said Russian military activity around NATO waters had increased, with a 30% increase in the number of ships threatening UK waters in the past two years, and NATO had used warplanes more than 700 times to intercept Russian aircraft approaching allied airspace.
“That is why the UK is committed to building a stronger Europe within NATO because the security, stability and prosperity of our citizens depend on it,” they added.
Trump will hold bilateral talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, among others, at the summit, but is expected to meet Starmer only in main group sessions or on the sidelines of meetings.
But Starmer and other European allies want to tell Trump how his spending commitments will be translated into action, including signaling there will be “fairer burden sharing” to the alliance’s biggest contributor.
Although the UK is the third largest real contributor to NATO after the US and Germany, it ranks 14th out of 32 alliance countries as a percentage share of GDP. British officials said a number of defense industry announcements would be made, including joint projects with allies.
Despite ongoing tensions with European partners and previous threats that the United States could leave NATO altogether, Trump is expected to use the summit to “assess” other nations’ growing defense capabilities and keep up pressure on them to meet the 5% target.
