Cuts to other government departments could harm defence, MOD official warns
A top Ministry of Defence official has said cutting spending on areas like energy or transport investment "could come back to haunt us in defence".
UK National Armaments Director Rupert Pearce told peers on the Lords International Relations and Defence Committee savings to fund the much-delayed Defence Investment Plan (DIP) would be a "zero-sum game".
New Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis has vowed to get the Armed Forces the funding they need after his predecessor John Healey quit alongside his Armed Forces Minister Al Carns last week.
Mr Pearce said: "If you can't borrow and you won't tax, it becomes a zero-sum game when, for defence to get more money someone else must lose, and that's a very difficult decision to make politically.
"It's not one I obviously have to make, but also remember that our resources are described as a percentage of growth.
"If we kick the legs out of growth investments by other ministries in energy or transport and so on, actually that could come back to haunt us in defence, and we want our economy to be as strong as possible.
"I'm a firm believer that one of the best forms of deterrence is a strong economy, so we need to think of this holistically, as well, which is what makes this so difficult."
Mr Pearce also said the delay to the publication of the DIP – which was originally expect to be published in the autumn – is regrettable and could end up impacting the UK's reputation.
He said: "I think it goes to reputation with industry, with our allies – everybody is waiting for this to come out, and I want to get out there with the DIP, and I want to have discussions with industry about how we can move fast, and we can be partners.
"I want to roll my DIP out over the top of the DIP equivalent of my allies and say, 'gosh, look, this is where we're doing things together, we can do things together – look, you do this, I do this'; we can move in a multilateral basis for our allies as well."
The Government has pledged to publish the DIP ahead of the Nato summit in Ankara on 7 July.
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