Britain is spending nearly twice as much on debt interest as defence, figures show, as the OECD warns that high borrowing costs are hampering Europe’s rearmament.

The cost of servicing the UK’s vast £2.8 trillion debt pile has now risen to £104.9bn, almost double the £56.9bn committed to defence.

This reflects a broader trend across the West, as the OECD found that the world’s wealthiest countries spent $2.1 trillion (£1.6 trillion) on debt interest payments last year, dwarfing the $1.2 trillion they spent on military equipment.

Governments’ spending on debt also vastly exceeds investment in other key government areas like housing, the body warned.

It comes as Europe is under increasing pressure to rearm, with governments scrambling to raise cash to cope with Russian aggression and Donald Trump’s efforts to reduce American expenditure on European defence.

Sir Keir Starmer has already vowed to raise defence spending to 2.5pc of GDP from April 2027, up from 2.3pc currently.

However, many experts believe that Britain will need to go further in the coming years, requiring the Government to find tens of billions of pounds more.