LONDON (Sputnik) – Local media reported Friday that Chancellor George Osborne told the Defense Ministry to cut defense spending by $1.5 billion. If implemented, the move could make the United Kingdom miss a NATO-mandated 2-percent benchmark for spending.
"My message to my colleagues in London, like to all the other capitals of the NATO countries, is to stick to the pledge they all made," Carter told the BBC in an interview.
Carter added that London was risking becoming disengaged if it cuts its military budget.
NATO guidelines stipulate spending 2 percent of the country's gross domestic product on defense.
The Conservative Party, headed by David Cameron, won a landslide victory in the general elections in the United Kingdom on May 7. In the pre-election campaign the Tories promised to invest some $242 billion into new military equipment over the next decade.
