Uk military budget
Executive summary
The UK’s military budget has risen sharply since 2022 and is now among the world’s largest, running to tens of billions of pounds and equivalent to well over 2% of GDP in current estimates; NATO expects the UK to spend about 2.4% of GDP in 2025 [1][2]. The shape of the budget is changing — a growing share is capital investment for equipment rather than personnel — while long-term commitments (including an agreed path to 3.5% of GDP by 2035) and off‑budget spending on Ukraine complicate both fiscal planning and political debate [3][4].
1. The headline numbers: how big is the UK military budget now
Public sources place UK defence spending in the tens of billions of pounds: official aggregates reported for 2023/24 are around £56.8–£59.0 billion in different datasets, and other compilations put the fiscal-year 2025/26 budget at roughly £73.6bn depending on measurement and timing [5][6]; NATO estimates the UK will spend 2.4% of GDP on defence in 2025, while World Bank‑based series record 2.26% of GDP in 2023 [1][2].
2. Composition: more kit, fewer people — the capital shift
The make‑up of UK defence spending has shifted markedly toward capital and equipment investment: after a long period with roughly 25% of funding for capital, the share rose to about 35% by 2023/24 and is projected to reach roughly 43% by 2028/29, reflecting greater allocation to major equipment, R&D and procurement and a relative decline in personnel spending and running costs [3].
3. Commitments and trajectory: NATO targets, national pledges and funding gaps
London has committed to NATO’s 2% floor and has set out a path to higher spending — a government route to 2.6% of national income by 2027 and an agreed aim of 3.5% by 2035 — but independent analysts and military figures warn the timeline and cashflow are tight and that some pledges may be underfunded without additional budget allocations or re‑profiling [3][7].
4. Off‑budget support, spending reviews and political friction
Significant UK military support to Ukraine — over £10.8bn between February 2022 and March 2026 — has been financed largely from the Treasury Reserve rather than the Ministry of Defence core budget, muddying headline MOD totals and putting pressure on broader fiscal choices; at the same time, the 2025 Spending Review fixed departmental plans through 2028/29 and left unresolved tensions between the MOD’s long‑term equipment plans and day‑to‑day operating funding, producing disputes inside Whitehall between the MoD and the Treasury [4][7][8].
5. Political debate, opportunity costs and contested figures
Advocates of higher spending argue greater defence budgets will drive innovation and productivity and meet new security threats, while critics — including campaign groups — warn that very large rises will crowd out foreign aid and climate action and strain other public services; NGOs have highlighted Budget 2025 material suggesting headline military spending could reach substantially higher totals (reported as up to £90bn in some analyses for 2026/27) relative to core figures, an interpretation contested in wider reporting and dependent on which items and off‑budget commitments are counted [9][10].
6. What remains uncertain and where the debate will focus next
Key uncertainties include the timetable and cashing‑out of major equipment programmes (with analysts warning of unfunded projects and the need for up to hundreds of billions of pounds in additional funding by 2040 in one industry‑facing estimate), the domestic fiscal trade‑offs across public services, and whether planned increases will close readiness gaps given in‑year operating pressures; reporting shows both detailed numerical plans from spending reviews and persistent doubts from military insiders about near‑term resource sufficiency [9][8].