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UK delays date for 3% of GDP defence spending target

The Treasury said it will provide full funding for the defence investment plan in Healey’s 28 October budget instead of publishing a timeline for reaching 3%.

Reported · Written up by our desk · Europe

The UK Treasury confirmed that the chancellor will not set out when Britain will meet its target of spending 3% of GDP on defence until next year’s spending review, pushing the timeline beyond Chancellor John Healey’s first budget on 28 October.

The decision follows changes in the defence department, with Healey resigning as defence secretary in June and later declining to specify a date for reaching the 3% target that he previously said should be hit by 2030.

The government said there will be no further detail about the target timeline in the budget, while it reiterated plans to fully fund the defence investment plan and to set out a pathway at the spending review to meet the Nato commitment of 3.5% of GDP on defence by 2035.

Defence spending is currently on track to reach 2.7% of GDP by 2030, with the broader plan described as being funded in part by a cut to UK aid spending, according to the reporting.

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