article_snippet: Maintaining defence spending at the minimum demanded by Nato is now only a 'target', Philip Hammond suggested this morning.
article_snippet: Nato has guaranteed defence spending will stay above 2 per cent of Britain's national income until 2016 – but not beyond.
article_snippet: MPs claim that if the Chancellor George Osborne gets the Chancellor George Osborne way Britain's military spending will fall below 2 per cent of GDP – despite the Prime Minister using a Nato summit in Wales to publicly shame other countries into hitting that target.
article_snippet: Mr Hammond said the Government would not set out the Government defence spending plans until after the next election at 'the beginning of the next parliament' Military spending will stay above 2 per cent of GDP until 2015/16.
article_snippet: Mr Cameron has pledge an annual 1 per cent real terms increase in spending on defence equipment after the next election at 'the beginning of the next parliament' Military spending.
article_snippet: The Prime Minister also remains committed to growing the Army Reserves to 35,000.
article_snippet: But defence spending in the UK is forecast to drop to 1.7 per cent by 2020 .
article_snippet: Defence spending in the UK is forecast to drop to 1.7 per cent by 2020, even without further cuts.
article_snippet: Mr Hammond, speaking this morning on the BBC's Andrew Marr show, was asked if Britain could afford to cut defence spending with the growing threat posed by Vladimir Putin and ISIS in the Middle East.
highlights_snippet: Philip Hammond said spending 2% of GDP on defence was now only a 'target' 