A former Australian prime minister has said his country should be “prepared to make a contribution” to protect the freedom of Ukraine.

Tony Abbott told Sky News’ Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge that no country “will be safe against a bully” if Vladimir Putin wins the war.

He called on Britain to take the lead in protecting Ukraine even without a US backstop – but said all the free countries of the world should be “prepared to make a stand”.

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Mr Abbott, who led the conservative Liberal Party, said: “I personally think that Australia should be prepared to make a contribution to the long term freedom and security of Ukraine.

“The Ukrainians have been fighting for the freedom of everyone. And if Putin is able to snuff out the freedom and the independence of Ukraine, what smaller country anywhere is safe against a bully?

“Is Taiwan safe? Is Australia, for that matter, safe? Is Japan safe?

“This is why it’s important that whatever the Americans ultimately do, the free countries of the world are prepared to make a stand in support of the freedom of Ukraine.”

It comes after Sir Keir Starmer urged America to provide a “security guarantee” to deter Putin and said he is prepared to send British troops to Ukraine if a peace deal is made.

The UK prime minister was speaking following a summit of continental leaders that was arranged by French President Emmanuel Macron, after Donald Trump shocked the world by arranging bilateral talks between the US and Russia – excluding Europe and Ukraine.

Mr Abbott said Mr Trump “will blight his second presidency” if he hands a victory to Putin.

“If the result of anything the American president does is to leave Ukraine broken, defenceless, and ultimately a colony of imperial Russia, I think that would be a tragedy,” he said.

He said Sir Keir was “sensible and brave” to consider sending peace keeping troops, but he should be prepared to do this without America’s help, and on its own if necessary.

He said: “Britain is a substantial power. After the United States, it’s the second most powerful country, notwithstanding the current weakness of the British Army. And it should be prepared to take a stand for freedom by protecting Ukraine.

“Britain should be prepared to lead here and it should not expect yet again to ride on America’s coat tails.”

Mr Trump has said the US no longer sees the defence of Europe as its primary concern in a major change of policy since the Second World War.

It has prompted calls for the UK and other NATO countries to increase defence spending.

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Speaking after the Paris summit on Monday night, Sir Keir said a “US security guarantee” is the only path to peace in Ukraine.

But he also insisted “Europe must play its role”, adding: “I’m prepared to consider committing British forces on the ground alongside others if there is a lasting peace agreement.

“So I will go to Washington next week to meet President Trump and discuss what we see as the key elements of a lasting peace.”

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However, despite three hours of emergency talks, European leaders left the meeting without a common view.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz described the idea of deploying European peacekeepers as “completely premature” and said it was “completely the wrong time to have this discussion”.

And Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen said her country was “open to discussing many things” but stressed her nation was still very far off deploying its own soldiers to Ukraine.

Watch the full interview on the Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge from 6.30pm

Some government departments have been asked to make savings which would amount to a 11% cut in spending – as the prime minister faces calls to raise defence spending.

Sky News has been told that departments which do not have their spending protected have been asked to model two options – “flat” spending, which, adjusted for inflation, amounts to a cut; and a deeper reduction amounting to 11% in real terms.

No final decisions on departmental spending will be taken until the Treasury’s spending review, which sets departmental budgets for three years, and will be completed in June. Decisions on possible spending cuts by departments have been described by sources as “incredibly difficult”.

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It comes amid calls to increase defence spending, in the light of the Trump administration’s warning to European nations to shoulder their own security – and send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine.

Sir Keir Starmer has promised to increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP but has not set out when this will be achieved. Ministers say a defence review to be published this spring will set out a “roadmap” to it.

Those departments with their budgets protected include the NHS, childcare and schools, defence and overseas aid at 0.5%.

What could be hit?

This raises the prospect of more severe cuts for unprotected departments including local government – which is responsible for social care – justice, including courts and prisons; the environment, Home Office and culture.

John Healey the defence secretary, announced a shake-up of defence spending at a speech in Westminster, to focus on “war readiness and deterrence”. He said: “At this time, we must rearm Britain.”

He said: “The decisions that we make right now over the coming weeks will not only define the outcome of the conflict in Ukraine, but the security of our world for a generation to come. And the nature of government means dealing with these challenges”.

Mr Healey would not say how quickly defence spending would rise but said conversations over the past week with the US defence secretary Pete Hegseth were about the need to go further.

He said the message was “not new”, adding: “We know as European nations we need to step up on European security, on defence spending and on Ukraine, especially over the last year we’ve been doing just that. What Pete Hegseth accelerated was that recognition that we’re stepping up, but we must go further.”

Raising defence spending to 2.5% of GDP would cost ‘£6bn a year’

Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said that increasing defence spending from its current level of 2.3% to 2.5% would mean finding approximately an extra £6bn a year by the end of the parliament.

He said: “Six billion in our overall budget is not enormous. The problem facing the government is that the fiscal situation is so tight, even finding that kind of money is going to be difficult.

“The last government and this one have increased spending quite a bit across quite a range of public services since 2020. So it’s not that we’re coming right off the back of austerity, but we are still in a position where a lot of government departments, the Ministry of Justice, for example, have got less money now than I had all the way back in 2010.

“So it’s still going to be hard for a lot of these areas to swallow any further cuts or even to cope with flat spending.”

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A Treasury spokesperson said: “The chancellor has asked all departments to deliver savings and efficiencies of 5% of their current budget as part of the first zero-based spending review in seventeen years and every pound of government spending is being interrogated, to root out waste and get the best value for taxpayers.

“National security is a foundation of this government’s plan for change, which is why we have increased defence spending by almost £3bn while delivering the highest pay rise for our armed forces in over 20 years.

“We will set out a path to 2.5% once the strategic defence review has concluded. We will not give a running commentary while the review is undertaken.”