Should Britain join an EU defence scheme?

The UK and Europe have had plenty of time to get to grips with the inevitable, that President Donald Trump will demand a substantial rise in defence spending.

When he threw this demand at Europe the first time he served as president, the impact was like a fox entering a hen coop. Lots of fluttering wings and squawking. But in the end it worked. More Nato members met the minimum 2 per cent of GDP target for defence expenditure.

Now Trump is back and the issue has become an even greater priority. Nearly three years into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, every member of the western alliance is fully aware that President Putin might turn his attention to what the Kremlin perceives to be vulnerable parts of Eastern Europe to pursue his hegemonic ambitions.

Numerous current and past military chiefs have been warning that Europe is not prepared for a conventional war with Russia, at least not without the backing of the alliance’s only military superpower, the United States of America.