Nato chief says he is confident Burnham will stick to defence spending target

Mark Rutte stressed need for military investment ahead of long-awaited UK funding announcement on Tuesday

Nato’s secretary general has said he is confident Andy Burnham will stick to the alliance’s long-term spending commitments, and that the man expected to be the UK’s next prime minister would recognise that rearmament can spur economic growth.

During a visit to London, Mark Rutte said he did not expect the UK to meet an alliance target to spend 3.5% of GDP on defence by 2035 “in one big step” when its long-delayed defence investment plan was published on Tuesday.