Penny Mordaunt urges UK to boost defence spending to counter Russia’s threat

Penny Mordaunt urges UK to boost defence spending to counter Russia's threat Source: Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg - BBC One

Transcript

00:00Well, as someone on Putin's hit list and been threatened by various agents of Russia, I'm

00:06very clear-eyed about this.

00:08Look, I think it's really obvious to us in Europe why Putin has to be stopped.

00:13It is worth saying why it's in America's interest, too.

00:17As Dan will say, testify, Eisenhower, when he was president, rewrote the security rules

00:25for the United States to have regard to the things that made America great in the first

00:30place.

00:31And there's many nations around the world that tolerate and enjoy American economic

00:37and hard power primacy because of what they stood for.

00:42And I think if you're going to reduce things to just transactions between nations as opposed

00:47to focusing on these values, you are going to end up paying a heavier price for things.

00:52Do you think the West underestimated Russia?

00:54I mean, for a long time in this country and in the States, people thought, oh, we can

00:58deal with Putin, actually.

00:59I have always argued that we need to be doing more to bolster our defences, absolutely.

01:05I think that we're not quite awake enough yet.

01:09We're still holding back on defence spending.

01:12This is a real moment for Europe.

01:13It will be a hard price to pay.

01:15But if we don't do this now, the price we will pay in years to come will be unbearable.

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