Express wrong to claim UK ‘spends 2.5% of GDP on defence’

18 February 2025

An article published by the Express on Monday claimed that “as it stands the UK spends 2.5% of GDP on defence”.

But that’s not correct. In 2023/24 the UK spent approximately 2.3% of its GDP on defence, and as the Ministry of Defence told Full Fact this week it is currently expected to maintain this level of defence spending as a percentage of GDP in both 2024/25 and 2025/26.

The government has said it is committed to increasing defence spending to 2.5% of GDP, but has yet to set out a timeframe for doing so. Our Government Tracker has full details on this pledge.

We’ve contacted the Express for comment and will update this live blog with any response.

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