Chancellor Reeves to Newsmax: UK to Add Largest Defense Increase Since Cold War

It is "absolutely crucial" that Europe steps up and spends more for defense, so the United Kingdom is making its largest increase in defense spending since the end of the Cold War, U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves told Newsmax on Thursday.

"We are injecting the largest increase in defense spending since the end of the Cold War, an extra 2.2 billion pounds just this year and then reaching 2.5% of our GDP by 2027," Reeves told "Wake Up America."

She added that the U.K. wants to drive value while supporting tech businesses with the "newest ideas to better equip our armed forces" in tandem with increasing what it spends on defense in Europe to meet its challenges.

"Russia's aggression in Europe means that this is the moment for Europe to spend more on defense but, crucially as well, to get better value for money, for defense spending," Reeves said. "And that's why in the U.K., we're investing more in novel technologies, using our government procurement to drive value."

President Donald Trump, as well as national security adviser Mike Waltz, have called on European nations to increase defense spending to at least 5% of their GDP, and Reeves said in her meetings, she is seeing other countries stepping up.

"I was meeting with some of my fellow finance ministers from around Europe just yesterday at the [International Monetary Fund] meetings, and countries like Poland are already spending 5% of their GDP on defense," Reeves said.

She added that she believes it is important that Europe's countries coordinate their defense spending, as it is done in the United States, where individual states do not determine military spending.

"We do need to do more to ensure the interoperability of defense spending and equipment in Europe so that we can work together to better defend our continent against aggression," said Reeves. "I'm working with other finance ministers to make sure that we are stepping up to provide the funding and also getting value for money for that funding."

Reeves is to meet on Friday with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and she told Newsmax that she is confident of securing a deal on trade and tariffs between the United Kingdom and the United States.

"I absolutely understand that the concerns that the United States have about imbalances in trade in the global economy, particularly when it comes to China, that runs large, persistent trade surpluses with countries around the world, including the U.S. and indeed including the United Kingdom," she said.

Reeves noted that the United States and the U.K. have balanced trade, without a surplus or deficit.

"A million Brits work for American firms," she said. "A million Americans work for British firms. Our economies are closely intertwined, which is why I believe that there is a deal to be done between the U.K. and the U.S."

Reeves pointed out that both countries elected new governments last year, with Trump and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, "because of a strongly held belief that our economies were not working properly for working people and that it does matter where things are made and who makes them."

The two allies don't always agree on policy, but still, a deal can be done, said Reeves.

"Our strong relationship when it comes to defense, when it comes to security, and when it comes to the economy and prosperity, means that we can strike a deal that is in the interests of working people in both of our countries."

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