Sir Keir Starmer risks fury as he refuses to say when he will hike spending on defence

SIR Keir Starmer has risked fury as he again refused to say when he will hike spending on defence to 2.5 per cent of GDP.

The PM, who is in Azerbaijan for the Cop29 climate summit, was coy on when the election manifesto pledge will be met.

Asked whether the money will be ready in the next five years, Sir Keir responded: “We’ll set out a path to 2.5 per cent.

“We’ve got a strategic defence review going on at the moment, which reports in the early part of next year and we will set out a path to 2.5 per cent.

“You’ll see it when we set it out.”

Pressure is mounting on the PM to outline the timescale, with Donald Trump threatening to let Russia do “whatever the hell it wants” with European states that don’t bump up payments.

Amid uncertainty over how much longer the US will help fund Kyiv’s war effort, military chiefs have also implored the PM to get moving on his manifesto funding pledge.