Keir Starmer to hold urgent Downing Street press conference today

Keir Starmer will hold a press conference today after announcing the biggest hike in defence spending since the Cold War in the face of Russian aggression.

In a surprise statement the PM said the Government will spend 2.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) on defence by 2027 - and 3% in the next decade. Mr Starmer said this would mean £13.4 billion more spent on defence every year from 2027.

He said the move would be funded by massive cuts to Britain's overseas aid budget and said it was his "ambition" is for defence spending to rise to 3% of GDP after 2029.

Mr Starmer told the Commons: "We must find courage in our history, courage in who we are as a nation, because courage is what our own era now demands of us. "So starting today, I can announce this Government will begin the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War," he added.

The PM, who said tyrants like Vladimir Putin "only respond to strength", is expected to address the move around 5pm at a Downing Street press conference.

Speaking in the Commons, he said: "One of the great lessons of our history is that instability in Europe will always wash up on our shores, and that tyrants like Putin only respond to strength.

"Russia is a menace in our waters, in our airspace, on our streets, they have launched cyber attacks on our NHS, even seven years ago, a chemical weapons attack on the streets of Salisbury. We must stand by Ukraine."

It also follows uncertainty over Donald Trump's commitment to European security after the US President attacked Ukraine's leader as a "dictator" and blamed Kyiv for Moscow's invasion. Later this week Mr Starmer is expected to travel to Washington DC for meetings in the Oval office with Mr Trump, who has been pushing Nato allies to spend considerably more on defence.

Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey warned: "We may be watching before our very eyes the betrayal of our Ukrainian allies by America, and with it the potential betrayal of Europe and of Britain, to which we must respond."