The former Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon has warned the threat from Russia is “much more serious” as it “has increased.”
Sir Michael said the UK should be “setting an example” and ahead of the upcoming US election he is urging all to commit to 2.5% of their GDP within NATO on defence spending.
Sky News asked Sir Michael is the UK is not spending enough on defence, he said, “Yes, I do.
“We need to be spending more. The threat has increased and … in the Cold War… we didn’t have Russia invading countries on our continent. So the threat is much more serious than it was.
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“The [Ministry of Defence] budget has been rising. And to be fair to my successors, and to successive prime ministers, the budget has been slowly increasing.
“However, the threat has been multiplying. And that’s the difference now. That’s why we need to step up a gear and that’s why we’d like every candidate in this election to commit to a new target of 2.5%.”
He added: “We need to be cajoling the rest of the alliance and setting an example. Some countries on the eastern side of NATO are now doing that.
“Poland, for example, the Baltic states … Romania and Hungary are now spending much more, and we should be leading.”
On Wednesday Lord David Cameron told allies at the NATO summit that by spending the guideline of 2% or even more is the “best way to prepare for the American elections in the autumn.”
He comments come as it is expected that Donald Trump will win the election in November.
Sir Michael said that NATO member should stop “fretting about Trump” but do what he wants us to do.
He added, “NATO has been a very successful defensive alliance. Countries want to join us and have joined it, Finland and Sweden have in the last year or so. So it’s a stronger alliance all the time.
“But the answer to Trump is not to keep fretting about Trump, but to do what the Americans want us to do.
“And by the way, that’s across the board in America, Republicans and Democrats – they want Europe to spend more on its own defence.”
“They see our continent being invaded by Russia and they expect us to do more about it. And we should,” he added.
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