Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the Prime Minister's statement that the President of the United States is 100 per cent behind NATO, what pressure they are placing on those NATO members which do not contribute two per cent of their GDP to defence.

The United Kingdom meets the Defence Investment Pledge from the NATO summit in Wales, and has committed to do so for the rest of this decade. NATO's ability to deter potential adversaries requires modern capabilities, and these need appropriate funding. Government ministers regularly encourage Allies to fulfil the commitments they have made to spend two per cent of GDP on defence by 2024 (and 20 per cent of that on equipment). Better burden-sharing is an important issue for the new US Administration, and we expect this to be a focus of discussion at the NATO Defence Ministerial Meeting later this month.