NATO to Britain: Show Yearly Steps to 3.5% Defence Spending by 2035
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Thursday, 17 September 2026, that Britain must show "a credible path" of yearly increases to reach the alliance target of 3.5% of gross domestic product on defence by 2035. The Guardian Gross domestic product, or GDP, is the total value a country produces in a year.
Rutte said the United Kingdom cannot wait until just before 2035 and then rise "in one go in 2034". Current British plans to 2028/29 level off at 2.7%, nearly £30bn below the level that 3.5% would require.
The remarks followed meetings in England. Rutte met Prime Minister Andy Burnham on Wednesday, 16 September, at a business park in Didcot. UK Government Earlier on Thursday he met Defence Secretary Wes Streeting and Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband. A day earlier he had spoken at Ditchley Park in Oxfordshire and warned that NATO faced "the most dangerous and complex security environment in a generation".
The 3.5% figure is part of a larger NATO pledge. Allies have agreed to spend 5% of GDP a year on defence by 2035. NATO Under that plan, at least 3.5% goes to core military needs such as troops and equipment, and up to 1.5% goes to wider security spending. Rutte first proposed that two-part structure. Reuters Keir Starmer signed Britain up to the 3.5% part in summer 2025.
Spending is already rising in parts of the alliance. European allies and Canada raised defence spending by 20% in 2025 from the year before, after adjusting for inflation. Reuters Britain announced an extra £15 billion ($20.01 billion) for defence, partly paid for by cuts elsewhere. Reuters
Rutte tied progress to a date. He said he expects allies at the next NATO Summit in Ankara to show they are on a clear and credible path to the 5% goal.
The broader context here is about turning a distant promise into yearly action. A 2035 target lets governments agree now and decide on funding later. Requiring published yearly steps before Ankara would leave less room to delay. For NATO planners, the yearly path counts because weapons orders and troop readiness are set over several years.
Looking at what this means for London, the question is how to get there with tight budgets. The 2025 commitment set the politics. The spending plan to 2028/29 still leaves a distance to 3.5%. Closing it step by step would mean steady funding choices across more than one parliament, with trade-offs made clear well before 2034. Whether Burnham's government publishes that plan before Ankara will affect its standing in NATO and trust in the 5% pledge itself.
