Sky News was interrupted for an urgent “breaking news” announcement as the chief of NATO issued a warning.
Keir Starmer was dealt a devastating blow as Sky News delivered a “breaking” announcement. Jonathan Samuels halted the programme to announce that Russia is arming four times faster than NATO and will be ready to attack by 2030. Speaking at Chatham House, NATO chief Mark Rutte said that there is no longer “east or west”, there is simply NATO as he urged members to spend more on defence.
Joined by Dominic Waghorn, Samuels claimed it was “quite the warning” from the NATO chief. Waghorn explained that while NATO has “25 times the economic might of Russia“, Vladimir Putin‘s country is “outstripping” it in terms of producing munitions at four times the rate of NATO. “That’s problematic for Ukraine most of all because Russia now has the egde in terms of ammunition of what it can throw at Ukraine,” the international affairs editor said.
Keir Starmer was issued a huge blow on Sky News (Image: Getty)
He continued: “What does NATO do about it? He’s saying that Europe and America needs to spend a lot more on defence and he’s saying the solution will be a five per cent expenditure of GDP.”
Waghorn explained that 3.5% of that would be spent on the production of weapons, while the remaining amount would be used for defence related spending.
He went on to point out that this is a “problem” for the prime minister as the Labour leader has only committed to 2.5% by 2027.
The government’s Strategic Defence Review, published on June 2, set out the threats facing Britain and what is needed to protect the country from enemies like Russia and China.
Dominic Waghorn claimed Mark Rutte’s new demand is a “problem” for the prime minister (Image: Sky News)
Last week, John Healey sparked backlash following his repeated refusal to explain how he plans on funding a promised defence spend increase.
Mr Healey explained how the government plans on funding its 2.5% commitment with a £5 billion spending increase in defence, rather than addressing the 3% requirement.
“So that’s to get to 2.5%. Beyond that, how are you going to pay for it?,” BBC Breakfast host Sally Nugent asked. “Because we have discussed with you on this programme before the percentage needs to go up.”
Mr Healey responded: “Well, we’ve said how we’ll pay for the 2.5%. We will never make commitments to increase funding unless we can show how we’re paying for them, and we’re switching money out of overseas development aid in this parliament to be able to increase this defence spending, a record increase – a level this country has not spent since 2010.”
