Boris Johnson says UK defence spending set to rise to 2.5% of GDP by end of decade – as it happened

5.45pm BST

Afternoon summary

• Boris Johnson has said the UK will spend 2.5% of GDP on defence by the end of this decade, after a cabinet row over defence spending and claims the government would ditch a key manifesto commitment on the issue.

• Liz Truss has defended plans to cut the British army by nearly 10,000 troops as she called on other Nato countries to “step up” their defence spending.

• Ministers have announced a U-turn on key elements of the government’s schools bill, scrapping or amending clauses that would have given the Department for Education (DfE) greater control over “virtually every aspect” of academy trusts in England.

• Natalie McGarry, a former Scottish National party MP who embezzled almost £25,000 from two pro-independence groups has been jailed for two years.

Boris Johnson boarding his plane as he leaves the Nato summit in Madrid to fly home.
Photograph: WPA/Getty Images

5.41pm BST

Scottish government says its £65m contribution to military aid to Ukraine must be one off, not thin end of wedge

The Scottish government has said it has reluctantly agreed to allow its budgets to be used towards funding extra military aid for Ukraine, after UK ministers asked the devolved government to contribute £65m towards the new £1bn fund.

Kate Forbes, the Scottish finance and economy secretary, said:

This further funding is to assist Ukrainian armed forces to fight Russian aggression and the unspeakable brutality being perpetrated.

We have agreed to providing funding on this occasion given the clear need to maximise the international effort to support Ukraine. However, we are clear that this must not be seen as any kind of precedent which leads to devolved budgets being used to help pay for clearly reserved policy areas.

The Welsh government also expressed reservations about this request, and said it too had reluctantly agreed because of the significance of the crisis. (See 2.27pm.) Nicola Sturgeon’s chief spokesman said today it was worried that ministers in London may feel other devolved funds could be raided in future to fund UK-level policies normally paid for by the UK government. He said:

We don’t want this to be the thin end of a wedge which you’ll regularly or semi-regularly sees devolved budgets used for clearly reserved matters because Scotland clearly doesn’t receive funding for foreign affairs and defence, but devolved Scottish funding is being used for foreign affairs and defence. So it’s, I don’t think it’s ever happened. We regard it as a one off.

The government said the chief secretary to the Treasury asked devolved authorities and all the UK’s government departments to either offer up a contribution or to take a reduction in the consequentials provided as part of the block grant from the UK government. The Scottish government said it took £65m from its own capital reserves, carried forward from last year’s budget.

Updated at 5.47pm BST