RISHI Sunak will meet with US President Joe Biden today to finalise and announce the major sale of nuclear submarines to Australia.
In sunny San Diego the PM and Mr Biden will hold one-to-one talks before joining their Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese to launch AUKUS.
Rishi Sunak arrived in San Diego last night ahead of announcing a major joint US-UK deal to sell nuclear submarines to Australia
Rishi Sunak and Anthony Albanese met for dinner in San Diego last night
The trilateral security pact, first established in 2021, aims to push back against worrying Chinese expansion in the Indo-Pacific.
And it will beef up security for the democracies against the backdrop of Mad Vlad Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Last night the PM told NBC: “The behaviour that we’ve seen in China over recent times is concerning.
“China represents the biggest state threat to our economic interests, for sure. And it’s a systemic challenge for the world order.”
Mr Sunak added that the Aukus pact shows “Britain is back” playing a vital role on the world stage.
It comes as the PM today announced a £5bn boost to defence spending.
“We’re investing more in our armed forces over the next couple of years, billions of pounds more,” Mr Sunak said.
“We’re increasing our defence spending, because my belief is that the world has become more volatile.”
But the new funding falls far short of the £11bn that Defence Secretary Ben Wallace originally said was needed to fill a black hole in army finances.
The minister has warned Britain’s Armed Forces have been “hollowed out” by inflation and kit and ammo sent to Ukraine.
Ex-Army chief General Sir Richard Dannatt slammed the increase as “derisory”.
He fumed: “This Government is beginning to look like an ostrich over defence spending.
“The parallels to the 1930s grow stronger — a threat from a dictator in Europe and a refusal to reinvest or rearm.”
The rise will see defence spending hit 2.25 per cent of GDP, and there is also a pledge to increase that to 2.5 per cent in the “longer term”.
The Nato minimum defence spending commitment is 2 per cent.
This afternoon the government will publish its Integrated Review Refresh, setting out how the UK will combat national security threats, protect its economy and compete in the worldwide race to be a tech superpower.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly will give a statement to the Commons explaining the report and its implications.
