Tri-Service

Can The Government Deliver On The Defence Review?

A leading defence campaign group is warning the government will need to come up with more money to deliver what it promised in last year's defence review.

The UK National Defence Association also says numbers of servicemen and women will need to be increased.

It’s a mixed picture isn’t it?

Well, there is some praise for last Autumn’s combined National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security review,

They call it a "deft and well-presented piece of work", but they say the government must “match deeds to words” - and this is where they raise a big question mark.

They say it’s unclear whether the government is “willing to budget realistically for the SDSR’s aspirations”.

Defence spending is going up though?

Yes - they acknowledge that, but essentially they’re saying they think the plan that’s been set out in the defence review will cost more than is currently on the table.

For example, buying F35 fighters, they say funding for most of those planes has been left to the NEXT defence review.

And they have concerns about manpower. While it was raised slightly in the SDSR, they say for example, that in the Navy the increase is only about 10% of what’s needed with things like the new aircraft carriers on the way.

The government presumably would dispute their conclusions?

On trident renewal for example the government acknowledged ‘financial risk’ in the SDSR, which is why it added a £10BN contingency fund

But yes, they argue that Britain’s defences are well funded… the Defence Secretary told the Commons recently:

“The Government are committed to spending 2% of GDP on defence. The defence budget will rise by 0.5% above inflation every year of this decade. We have the largest defence budget in the European Union and the second largest in NATO, and this investment keeps us safe.”

The UK NDA says that jury’s out… and will have an answer in 3 years.

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