Labour’s promises in the SDR are not only unfunded but, from expansion of the regular army and reserves, to introduction of major new capabilities, they don’t deliver until well into the 2030s.
If such capacity was completely new, Ukrainian firms would benefit from a secure alternative base, away from the bombing threat – and any order could be doubled up to include the British military, which would gain rapid access to affordable battle-winning kit.
Fundamentally, it’s all about giving greater priority to military risk over ‘civil’ risk (health and safety, risk of judicial review etc). It’s not about being cavalier – just taking proportionate steps to boost our deterrence, rather than being bogged down in bureaucracy.
‘A Forces Housing Association’ if done well could potentially offer a mutual approach that involves service personnel in the organisation but – critical from a regeneration point of view – it can potentially deliver the twin tasks of managing the estate day to day and rebuilding it.
2.5 per cent of GDP on defence should never be seen as an ‘end state’; rather, it is a further step along the road to the necessary increase in defence investment we require in order to fully upgrade our overall deterrence posture – the best way to avoid war in the first place.
Democratic nations have no choice but to up their game on Defence spending and do all we can to deter aggressors, whilst aiding our ally in Ukraine. Any other course implies dangerous complacency.
As politicians charged with the supreme responsibility of Defence of the realm, as an absolute minimum we should be fighting to fund our forces, given what we expect them to do for us.
it should be an explicit goal of Government policy to increase the share of GDP spent on healthcare via non-state provision, bringing us closer to many comparable nations who enjoy better health outcomes.
Today’s announcement will bring total taxpayer funding for criminal defence to £1.2 billion a year, the largest amount for a decade.
The UK plus EFTA would have a greater GDP than Germany. As one, we would be the largest economy in Europe.
If we are also out of CAP, CFP and direct ECJ jurisdiction, able to negotiate our own trade deals and in the Single Market, it might not be such a bad outcome after all.
We may be rowing back to defend one promise. But another more fundamental promise to the future is actually at stake.
And on Brexit, as one who campaigned for In, I say we should get on with it, and avoid the one outcome that is infinitely less preferable to Leave or Remain: limbo.
Most of Labour’s ‘increase’ is either wholly unfunded, or is the rebadging of other non-Defence spending that will not buy a single bullet, but which will be cynically used to make the amount we spend on the military look far bigger than it really is.