UK and EU countries must spend more on defence, says Lammy

The UK and EU countries must spend more on defence, with Europe facing an "existential question" even in the event of a negotiated peace in Ukraine, David Lammy has said.

The foreign secretary told the Munich Security Conference "Putin will not go away", and that, while it was positive 23 Nato countries were now spending at least 2% of their GDP on defence, "we all know we have to go upward".

He said the UK was "absolutely" committed to spending 2.5% and would set out a "pathway" to achieving that goal in a few months' time.

Lammy's comments come after US Vice-President JD Vance told the conference on Friday that Europe must "step up in a big way to provide for its own defence".

In his address, Vance said it was his belief the greatest threat facing Europe was not from Russia or China but "from within".

He said many European governments, including the UK's, had retreated from their values and ignored issues such as migration and free speech.

Speaking on Saturday during a panel discussion on European security, Lammy told the audience that successive US presidents had asked Nato members to increase defence spending and emphasised the importance of continued support for Ukraine.

Appearing alongside his counterparts from France, Germany and Poland, Lammy said: "There is a question for Europe. If we look at GDP combined, it's about 0.01% that we are spending on that fight for Ukraine.

"We know this is the frontline, not just for Ukraine, but for Europe. We know too that even when we get to a negotiated peace, Putin will not go away. So this is an existential question for Europe."

He said that he understood why the US was now focusing on its security interests in the Pacific, where China is a major power both economically and militarily.

"People have given the impression that the Euro-Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific are tied just at this moment - it was tied in the Second World War," he said, mentioning that 30,000 British soldiers died in the region during that conflict.

"We recognise that pacing threat as the United States bears down on that issue. So of course Europe has to do more."

Earlier, in an article for The Telegraph, Lammy and Defence Secretary John Healey said the West had done too little in the past when Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014.

They said the UK and Europe now needed to "do more together" to "share the burden" of security across the continent.

The UK had committed an additional £150m towards military aid for Ukraine as well as new sanctions on people close to Russian President Vladimir Putin as he "only responds to strength", they added.

Meeting Vance on Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he wanted "security guarantees" ahead of planned peace talks between the US and Russia.

US President Donald Trump said he had spoken to Putin on Wednesday and agreed to "work together, very closely" to bring an end to the war in Ukraine. It has been nearly three years since Russia invaded.

Zelensky has proposed what he described as an "army of Europe" to secure the continent.

He told the conference on Saturday: "As we fight this war and lay the groundwork for peace and security, we must build the armed forces of Europe so that Europe's future depends only on Europeans, and decisions about Europe are made in Europe."

He added: "Europe needs a single voice, not a dozen different ones."

Asked during the panel discussion about the security guarantees being considered, Lammy said a long-term military and financial partnership might be best.

"The UK has just signed a 100-year partnership with Ukraine and I would encourage Donald Trump, and the Ukrainians, to look very carefully at a deepening partnership over the next generations," he said.

"Why? Because the best deal, and the best security guarantee, is binding US industry, business and defence capability into their future.

"That is what will make Putin sit up and pay attention and that is what is attractive to a US president who knows how to get a good deal."

Among the other possible measures mentioned by experts is the deployment of a peacekeeping mission to Ukraine.

Lord Dannatt, who was head of the British Army from 2006 to 2009, estimated that around 100,000 soldiers would be needed for such a mission and that the UK might need to contribute 40,000 of them.

"We just haven't got that number available," he told the BBC Radio 4's The Week in Westminster.

"Our military is so run down at the present moment, numerically and as far as capability and equipment is concerned, it would potentially be quite embarrassing."

Sir Richard Shirreff, Nato's former deputy supreme commander, told Radio 4's Today programme that "100,000 [troops] is probably the minimum".

Asked about calls to significantly increase defence spending, he said: "This is a defining moment for European militaries [and] European governments".