NNA - UK Defence secretary Ben Wallace is set to issue a call for a significant hike in government spending on the UK’s armed forces in the face of Russian aggression.

The senior cabinet minister has reportedly asked Boris Johnson to increase the country’s military spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP – an additional 20 per cent a year.

In a letter, Mr Wallace urged him to call on fellow Nato leaders to raise their own spending from the current minimum target of 2 per cent to 2.5 per cent of national income, according to Talk TV.

The defence secretary is expected to issue his call for a boost in spending following Vladimir Putin’s brutual invasion of Ukraine at the Royal United Services Institute think tank on Tuesday.

His call comes as Mr Johnson prepares to join other Nato leaders in Madrid on Tuesday for a summit at which they are expected to agree the biggest overhaul of the Western alliance since the end of the Cold War.—Independent 

===========R.H.