SIR Keir Starmer last night batted off calls from military chiefs to increase defence spending above 2.5 per cent.
It came as he prepared to fly to Paris for an emergency summit on Ukraine.
PAKeir Starmer has batted off calls from military chiefs to increase defence spending above 2.5 per cent[/caption]
The PM is facing demands from Britain’s top brass to raise defence spending to 2.65 per cent of GDP.
But Downing Street sources rubbished suggestions he would meet the demands, insisting he was sticking to Labour’s 2.5 per cent promise.
Sir Keir will lay out a timeline later this year to increase the military budget from its existing 2.3 per cent.
It came as French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday summoned Sir Keir to Paris to help thrash out a European response to the fast-moving events surrounding a possible Ukraine peace deal.
He will be joined by the leaders of Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark.
They will discuss how to give Ukraine the best possible hand to enter ceasefire negotiations with Russia President Vladimir Putin.
US President Donald Trump and his allies have suggested that Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky will have to concede some of his lost territory to Russia.
But Mr Zelensky said: “I will never accept any decisions between the United States and Russia about Ukraine, never.”
He added: “This is the war in Ukraine, against us, and it’s our human losses.”
Tensions have already flared with the US administration over whether or not Ukraine should be allowed to join Nato, after Trump’s defence secretary said it was unrealistic.
Stefanie Babst, former deputy assistant secretary general of Nato, yesterday accused Trump of “switching sides”.
She told Times Radio: “He is siding with the pariah state, with a war criminal, and he has been a Putin fan all along.”
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