PRESIDENT-elect Donald Trump set the cat amongst the pigeons with America’s NATO allies during his US presidential election campaign when he announced that continued US protection would depend on whether member states stumped up their share of the cash for the military alliance.

Current spending of nato members shows that Spain is one of the worst offenders in terms of it’s contribution to the NATO alliance. Members are expected to spend a minimum of 2% of GDP on defence but Spain spends far less than that amount with only 0.9% of it’s GDP available. Only Luxembourg spends less.

Recently Spain courted controversy among its NATO partners when it almost allowed Russian warships to dock and refuel in Ceuta whilst travelling to Syria.