NATO countries have agreed a statement ahead of their upcoming summit that sets a target of increasing annual defence and security spending to 5% of GDP by 2035, overcoming opposition from Spain.
The UK in 1985 was being run by people who grew up getting their cities bombed out and not having enough to eat because of the war, or having friends and family members dead because they were in the infantry and didn’t come back.
I posted a chart elsewhere in these comments; all during the modern era it’s been hovering around 1.5%, and then suddenly in the last few years people are invested in paying more, what with the US and Russia collaborating to make them nervous about their safety again.
5% is about what the UK spent up to 1985. It was 7% in 1960.
France spent 3% in 85, and 5% in the 60s, but they count “defence spending” differently.
The UK in 1985 was being run by people who grew up getting their cities bombed out and not having enough to eat because of the war, or having friends and family members dead because they were in the infantry and didn’t come back.
I posted a chart elsewhere in these comments; all during the modern era it’s been hovering around 1.5%, and then suddenly in the last few years people are invested in paying more, what with the US and Russia collaborating to make them nervous about their safety again.