A DEFENCE minister is urging Theresa May to up military spending by at least £8billion a year- or see Britain lose its place as a world power.

Tobias Ellwood said France was on course to replace Britain as the European nation with the biggest military budget next year.

And he revealed China’s navy is growing by the size of our navy each year.

He wants the PM to up the military budget from 2 per cent of the UK’s economic output to between 2.5 per cent to 3 per cent.

The current budget is £36billion - compared with America’s £470billion.

Writing in today’s Sun, the Minister says: “We retain the most professional Armed Forces in the world, brilliantly trained and well equipped.

Personnel Carrier that’s not been upgraded in two decades.”

He added: “The danger is without investment in hard power we will be unable to respond even if we want to. It’s not just about money for defence but by investing now we invest in our prosperity.”

The blast comes after Mr Ellwood – who served as a captain in the Royal Green Jackets – risked the ire of No.10 by criticising Donald Trump for pulling out of the Syrian conflict.

On Twitter he said the President was wrong to assume the war against Da’esh was “won”.

The Minister – who memorably tried to save PC Keith Palmer in the Westminster terror attack – said Britain had to adjust its military capability to reflect the changing threat from the “grey zone”.

He said the Ministry of Defence was already looking to invest in Artificial Intelligence and areas such as energy weapons – lasers.

He added: “We must be honest - our soft power will diminish if we don’t invest in our hard power.”

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson earlier this week said the UK had to be prepared to fight wars with AI and in space.

And, unveiling a Modernising Defence Programme (MDP) he insisted Britain had to try and “keep pace” with its nation-state competitors.

Mr Ellwood said the MDP programme was “a timely and ambitious plan to upgrade our defence posture”.

But he said: “It will require investment – confirmed at the next Spending Review.”