The UK has made good on its commitments to show leadership in NATO and will continue to do so in an age of growing threats to freedom and security, Sir Michael Fallon will say in Washington DC today.
During his first meeting with US Secretary for Defense Jim Mattis in the American capital, the Defence Secretary will also say Britain has shown leadership across the alliance and has helped encourage an increase of more than £40bn of defence investment by NATO states.
The UK has consistently met NATO’s 2% of GDP spending target, Sir Michael will say in Washington, and has lead by pressing allies to increase their own fiscal commitment. In the past year NATO countries have committed around £43bn more towards collective defence, at a time when a large number of assurance and deterrence activities are taking place across NATO’s eastern flank.
He will set out how the threats to security are growing and changing, but will reflect on the fact that since his visit to Washington in 2015, the UK has delivered by committing to 2%, sailed the first Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carrier and sent thousands of personnel on NATO exercises and deployments by land, sea and air.
Sir Michael will say: “Today our nations are facing a wave of multiple, concurrent, diverse global threats: from Islamist extremism, Russian state aggression, from sponsors of terror, from North Korea testing nuclear bombs and firing off missiles, from the insidious spread of misinformation and from Wannacry like cyber attacks. Such events demand an international response, so we see Brexit as an opportunity not to step back from European defence but to step up to strengthen Euro-Atlantic security. In particular, we’re bolstering our bonds with NATO – the cornerstone of defence.”
Sir Michael met Secretary Mattis in Brussels last week at the NATO Defence Ministerial meeting, where they discussed a range of security issues including Syria, where US jets recently struck in response to a chemical weapon attack. Sir Michael will say how the UK is acting to protect the UK and allies from threats.
He will say: “When I spoke in the US in March 2015 the stain of the 2013 Syria vote still loomed large, yet by the end of that year Parliament had overwhelmingly voted to extend our airstrikes into Syria. We’re performing a pivotal role in the Counter-Daesh Coalition, attacking Daesh positions, training local forces, using our cyber capabilities to disrupt their activities, an overall contribution which is second only to the US.”