Britain is 'incomplete' after defence investment plan flop says US Nato ambassador

Published: 23:14, 2 July 2026 | Updated: 23:23, 2 July 2026 Britain is 'incomplete' while it lacks a credible plan to raise defence spending the US Ambassador to Nato has said, in a humiliation for Keir Starmer. Labour must 'do its homework' to come up with a strategy to reach five per cent of defence spending Matthew Whitaker said on Thursday – as he urged ministers to leave Britain 'more capable and more ready' for war. 'Incomplete is the grade I would give them right now – because I think there is great capacity in the UK to spend more on defence, to become more capable,' Mr Whitaker, an ally of President Trump, told Sky News. And where Britain's history has 'always been to have a strong and capable and ready defence apparatus', he pointed out that 'obviously, that's not where we are today'. The diplomat added: 'We're expecting them to do the things they need to do, long term to do their homework and to come up with a credible plan that by 2035 will get them to the five per cent'. 'The UK is a serious ally. We want them to be more capable and more ready, and I think that they will be committed to that. But as of today, we're not quite there.' This comes as Sir Keir's defence investment plan – finally published this week as one of the PM's last acts in office – drew widespread condemnation for failing to meet the threats Britain faces. And ministers also neglected to outline when Government would raise defence spending to three per cent of GDP – seen as the minimum required to ensure Britain's security. Labour must 'do its homework' to come up with a strategy to reach five per cent of defence spending Matthew Whitaker said on Thursday – as he urged ministers to leave Britain 'more capable and more ready' for war Keir Starmer's defence investment plan – finally published this week as one of the PM's last acts in office – drew widespread condemnation for failing to meet the threats Britain faces Shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge said that Labour's defence investment plan has 'completely unravelled' Responding to Mr Whitaker's comments, shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge said that Labour's defence investment plan has 'completely unravelled' and 'now even our closest allies are calling them out over it'. He added: 'Despite it being months overdue, Labour still doesn't even know how to pay for it. 'Keir Starmer is not willing to take the tough decisions needed to keep the country safe and that's one of the main reasons he's had to resign. 'He's leaving office having kicked the can down the road for his successor.' Andy Burnham now faces finding £15 billion when he takes the reins from Sir Keir in less than three weeks' time – after Downing Street admitted on Thursday it had not yet identified cuts to fund its spending plans. But Mr Whitaker said growing the economy is the 'simple solution' to sourcing the cash. He said: 'The equation is quite simple: you can either grow your economy, which will create more room to spend money on defence, or you are going to have to make the difficult political choices.' And Mr Whitaker on Thursday said he would 'continue to push all allies, including the UK, to live up to the Hague defence commitment' of raising defence spending to five per cent of GDP. In a further embarrassment to Sir Keir, Mr Whitaker declined to endorse his reported ambition to succeed Mark Rutte as Nato secretary general. He said: 'We'll worry about those decisions in the future. I think there'll be a lot of great candidates.' 'That position has always had a lot of interest and a lot of qualified folks and it's an abundance of riches, ultimately. So we'll just have to see how that plays out.' The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.