Starmer boosts defence spending: Will it impress Trump and help Ukraine?
Ukrainecast
BBC
4.7 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 25 February 2025
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer says a "dangerous new era" is behind his decision to boost defence spending and cut the aid budget.
But will it impress President Trump ahead of Sir Keir’s visit to Washington later this week? And could this move help Ukraine?
Shashank Joshi from the Economist joins us to discuss this and answer listener questions on rare earth minerals.
Today’s episode is presented by Victoria Derbyshire and Vitaly Shevchenko. The producer was Julia Webster. The technical producer was Mike Regaard. The series producer is Tim Walklate. The assistant editor is Ben Mundy. Email Ukrainecast@bbc.co.uk with your questions and comments. You can also send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram to +44 330 1239480
You can join the Ukrainecast discussion on Newscast’s Discord server here: tinyurl.com/ukrainecastdiscord
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, it's 10098 days since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. |
| 0:10.2 | And I know I keep saying this, but so much has happened since we recorded our last episode. |
| 0:15.1 | A few hours ago, UK Prime Minister Kea Starma said this. |
| 0:19.0 | I can announce this government will begin the biggest sustained increase in defence spending |
| 0:23.6 | since the end of the Cold War. |
| 0:26.6 | We will deliver our commitment to spend 2.5% of GDP on defence, |
| 0:33.6 | but we will bring it forward so that we reach that level in 2027. |
| 0:39.3 | And then he made a further pledge. |
| 0:44.3 | I've long argued that in the face of ongoing generational challenges, |
| 0:48.3 | all European allies must step up and do more for our own defence. So subject to economic and fiscal |
| 0:57.5 | conditions and aligned with our strategic and operational needs, we will also set a clear |
| 1:03.2 | ambition for defence spending to rise to 3% of GDP in the next Parliament. |
| 1:10.6 | Sir Kaye Starmes heading to Washington later this week to meet President Trump, |
| 1:14.6 | following in the footsteps of his French counterpart, President Macron, |
| 1:18.4 | who said a truce between Ukraine and Russia could be agreed in the coming weeks. |
| 1:23.1 | And we've had loads of questions from you about rare earth minerals in Ukraine. |
| 1:28.0 | So, a lot to discuss in today's episode. |
| 1:30.8 | This is Ukraine cast. |
| 1:33.0 | Ukraine cast from BBC News. |
| 1:35.7 | Evil cannot be trusted. |
| 1:37.9 | Ask Pregojan. |
| 1:39.1 | You are not dealing with a politician, but with a bloody monster. |
... |
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