Is Trump's call with Putin the reason for Starmer's defence budget increase?

Keir Starmer has announced the UK is going to spend a lot more on defence - moving from 2.3 per cent of the nation’s GDP to 2.5 per cent by 2027. Defence Secretary John Healey spoke about the increase this morning – and denied the UK had only been pushed into the move by the impact of President Donald Trump. Healey insisted the government had responded "because the world has changed” but admitted Trump has “played a part” and “reinforced the importance” of more military funding. While in a press conference on Tuesday, Starmer also said his decision had been “accelerated” by Trump returning to office – but had been “three years in the making”. Read more of the story here 👇 https://www.cityam.com/keir-starmers-defence-pledge-will-prompt-tough-choices-on-tax/ Get more of City AM 👇 🌐 http://www.cityam.com X(formerly Twitter): http://twitter.com/CityAM Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cityam Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/city_am LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/cityam Produced by: Jessica Frank-Keyes Emmanuel Nwosu, Scarlett Wild