UK Conservative Backbenchers Urge Government to Increase Defence Spending

UK Royal Navy Carrier Strike Group 21 HMS Queen Elizabeth, HMS Defender, RFA Tidespring and HNLMS Evertsen from CSG21 sails with Japanese ships JS Izumo and JS Ise along with the Canadian ship HMCS Winnipeg in the Pacific Ocean, Sept. 2021. UK Ministry of Defence via AP

The UK’s Conservative backbenchers have called on the ministers to increase the country’s defence spending in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

It comes after Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said spending 2 percent of GDP on defence “must be a floor, not a ceiling,” referring to NATO countries’ baseline spending commitments.