British Public Oppose Tax Hikes To Increase Defence Spending, Poll Shows
Keir Starmer meets with Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy
2 min read
More people would oppose than support tax rises to pay for an increase in defence spending, YouGov polling has suggested.
A YouGov poll that surveyed more than 7,000 adults in Great Britain revealed that 55 per cent of the public would oppose tax hikes.
It comes as European leaders are set to meet in Paris this afternoon to discuss how they will respond to President Donald Trump commencing peace talks with Russia.
Starmer has faced increased pressure in recent months to move more quickly to increase defence spending.
The Labour government has committed to raising UK defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP and will set out a pathway to achieving the target once a strategic review of defense is concluded.
Questions have been raised over how the Treasury will look to increase defence spending, with tax increases, changes to fiscal rules and further departmental cuts all being suggested, despite Labour maintaining that it would not increase taxes for working people.
Almost a third (30 per cent) of those surveyed by YouGov said they would strongly oppose tax hikes to boost defence spending, while 25 per cent said they would somewhat oppose.
Just 30 per cent said they would support the move.
Russia and the United States are set to begin talks in Saudi Arabia this week, but without Ukraine.
The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been clear that any peace talks with President Vladimir Putin will need to involve Ukraine.
On Friday morning, Starmer spoke to Zelenskyy, reiterating the UK’s commitment to "Ukraine being on an irreversible path to NATO" – which was agreed by countries attending the Washington Summit last year.
YouGov also asked if the public would support or oppose the creation of a European army that included the UK.
Some 36 per cent said they would support the move, compared to 28 per cent who opposed.
More than a quarter (26 per cent) said that they did not know.
As part of another question, 39 per cent of the public said they thought that European countries would be able to well maintain European security without backing from the United States.
This was compared to 35 per cent who thought Europe would do a bad job without the support of the US.
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