France has unveiled plans to boost defence spending by more than a third between 2017 and 2025 in an “unprecedented effort” to meet Nato commitments and modernise its army and nuclear deterrent.

Presenting the multi-year military spending plan, the defence ministry said it would pump €295 billion (£260bn) into bolstering its armed forces between 2019 and 2025, after already raising the budget by 1.8 per cent to €34.3bn this year.

The annual increase is forecast to remain at 1.7 per cent between 2019 and 2022 to reach €44 billion that year, before jumping by three per cent in 2023 - conveniently, detractors will say, the year after President Emmanuel Macron's five-year term ends.

The aim is to meet France’s commitment to spend two per cent of gross domestic product on defence. "I want a strong France, in charge of its own destiny, protective of its citizens and its interests," Mr Macron said last month in a new year's address to the military.

"For that, we need a full defence capability, a modern, powerful force that is responsive and looks to the future," he said, calling the spending rise an "unprecedented budgetary effort".