BRITAIN'S Nato allies must increase their defence investment to prove that the alliance "means business", Defence Secretary Michael Fallon will tell military leaders today.
At a speech at the Royal United Services Institute today, on the eve of the Nato Summit, Mr Fallon will warn that the United States will not go on "picking up the cheque" if Europe chooses to prioritise social welfare spending over defence.
At a one-day conference at the think tank, Mr Fallon will call for Britain's Nato allies to increase their investment in national defence, saying: "Nato was formed on the basis that Europe would pay her way. Like any insurance policy, defence only pays out when you pay in.
"US taxpayers won't go on picking up the cheque if we choose to prioritise social welfare spending when the threats are on our doorstep."
Mr Fallon's comments will echo those made by Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, who warned that Nato must show it still has the political will to fight back in the event of a Russian attack on any member of the alliance.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article