The Secretary General thanked the United Kingdom for its enduring commitment to NATO and its leadership in Europe and beyond.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg met with Prime Minister Theresa May at 10 Downing Street on Wednesday to discuss preparations for the upcoming meeting of Allied leaders on 25 May.

In their talks, the Secretary General and Prime Minister May underlined the importance of fairer burden sharing and NATO’s role in the fight against terrorism. Mr. Stoltenberg noted that both issues will be high on the agenda for the meeting of NATO leaders and thanked the UK for leading by example on both fronts.

The UK government claims it spends 2% of GDP on defence, however earlier in the year, the International Institute for Strategic Studies claimed that British defence spending was 1.98% of GDP in 2016, below the 2% target set out by NATO. This was denied by the government at the time.In 2006, NATO allies set a target to spend 2% of Gross Domestic Product on defence. The UK oftens meets this target but when reporting its defence expenditure to NATO, the UK now includes several items of expenditure which had not previously been included. IISS director general John Chipman said: “In 2016, only two European Nato states – Greece and Estonia – met the aim to spend 2 per cent of their GDP on defence, down from four European states that met this measure in 2015. The UK dipped slightly below this at 1.98 per cent, as its economy grew faster in 2016 than its defence spending. Nonetheless, the UK remained the only European state in the world’s top five spenders in 2016. If all Nato European countries were in 2016 to have met this 2 per cent of GDP target, their defence spending would have needed to rise by over 40 per cent.” Recently, Labour MP Wayne David claimed that the 2% target was being met including retired personnel’s pensions, the government have so far declined to comment on this. A press release cited British contributions to the alliance:

“British troops are leading a NATO battlegroup in Estonia, Royal Air Force jets patrol the skies over the Black Sea region and the UK leads NATO’s Spearhead Force this year. British troops also continue to play a leading role in NATO’s mission to train, assist and advise Afghan forces as they secure their country.”