On 3-4 December, NATO leaders met in London to mark 70 successful years of the alliance, in a valuable opportunity to reaffirm British leadership. These events demonstrated a strong sense of NATO’s unity and purpose, progressed the largest reinforcement of collective defence since the end of the cold war and agreed ways to ensure NATO will continue to meet future threats. I have placed a copy of the NATO London declaration, capturing these commitments, in the Libraries of both Houses.
In order to maintain our alliance, defend our interests, and fulfil our commitments, NATO allies must all pay their fair share. So I was pleased that the meeting highlighted significant progress on burden sharing, with the NATO Secretary-General announcing an increase in non-US defence investment of $130 billion from 2016-2020, expected to rise to $400 billion by 2024. The UK remains one of nine allies meeting its 2% defence spending commitment, including a 20% investment in new capabilities. I will continue to urge other NATO allies to make progress in implementing our 2024 defence investment commitment.
In a session of the North Atlantic Council chaired by the Secretary-General, leaders reaffirmed NATO’s purpose and noted decisions taken to prevent conflict and preserve peace. These included addressing both state and non-state threats, a collective response to Russia’s deployment of treaty-violating intermediate-range missiles, a refreshed counter-terrorism action plan, stronger policies to counter hybrid threats, and work to increase the resilience of allies’ critical national infrastructure.
Allies also committed forces to NATO’s readiness initiative—ensuring that the alliance can deploy 30 ships, 30 battalions and 30 air squadrons at 30 days’ notice. The UK has provided the single largest commitment, offering three battlegroups, two air squadrons, and six warships, including an aircraft carrier, to ensure that NATO retains its ability to deploy quickly and at strength.