Labour MPs turn on Starmer as they warn he risks damaging US ties over military spending delay

Prior to his return to the White House last week, Trump was understood to be approaching Nato allies with a "demand five per cent, accept three per cent" line on military expenditure as part of the alliance.

Labour quartet Luke Akehurst, Dan Carden, Tan Dhesi and Luke Pollard have all made public statements calling for a spending boost.

Defence committee chairman Dhesi warned: "The cost of fighting a war... is significantly higher than providing a credible deterrence force."

While Liverpool Walton MP Carden said: "The simple reality is to build strong alliances, we must maintain and build our autonomy. To maintain a good relationship with the US, we will have to spend more on defence."

Armed forces minister Luke Pollard said Dhesi was "absolutely right" that "deterring a war is cheaper than fighting a war".

MORE MILITARY WOES:

• REVEALED: Staggering amount grieving military families will LOSE under Reeves’ inheritance tax raid
• Britain 'vulnerable to ballistic missile attacks' as Nato urges Starmer to increase defence spending
• MoD admits one in five not fit to fight as soldiers 'medically not deployable'

And though he failed to mention a date, Pollars said Labour had a "cast-iron" commitment to bringing defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP, adding that the Government had inherited "falling morale, a retention and recruitment crisis, mouldy broken homes that our service personnel live in and a hollowed-out and underfunded military" from the Tories.

Five former Tory Defence Secretaries - Grant Shapps, Sir Ben Wallace, Penny Mordaunt, Sir Gavin Williamson and Sir Michael Fallon - have turned up the heat on Labour too.

Shapps told The Sun: "This decision is a green light to adversaries and a slap in the face to our armed forces," while Mordaunt added: "The default setting of the Starmer Government is to pivot away from the US.

"All things are possible if there's the political will to do it," she said.

Long-time Nato hawk Wallace also claimed he feared Starmer was "going to preside over Britain tumbling down the ladder of military of leadership" in the bloc.

Williamson warned that "we are going to become incredibly marginalised if we don't step up to what needs to be done".

And Fallon added: "Labour must take defence more seriously. We face multiple threats now, so 2.5 per cent should be the minimum in this Parliament."