By Lucy Phillips
10 February 2010
Imposing severe cuts on defence spending immediately after the election risks derailing military reform, MPs have warned.
In a report published today, the Commons defence select committee say the next government will ‘have to accept the financial realities of the day’ but avoid ‘an early stringency budget’ that might prejudge the outcome of a strategic defence review.
Labour and the Conservatives have promised a strategic review soon after the election, with a view to publishing by the end of the year. Both parties have indicated that the defence budget is likely to suffer significant cuts in the coming years as a result of pressure on the public finances.
‘It is easy to lose sight of the fact that one of the core businesses of government is the defence of the country and of national interests, and that is every bit as true during difficult financial times as during more settled ones,’ said defence committee chair and Conservative MP James Arbuthnot.
The report, Readiness and recuperation of the armed forces: looking towards the strategic defence review, goes on to warn: ‘If the review concluded that the country faced a particular threat, the government would look foolish if only a few months earlier it had rendered itself less capable of dealing with it.’ Policies that increase spending on health, education and social security much more than on defence should not continue, the MPs said.
The warning came after Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth said operations in Afghanistan would be ‘first for resources’. Giving evidence to the committee yesterday, he said funding from the Treasury reserve for the conflict in Afghanistan would increase from £3.5bn to £5bn next year, although it has not been ring-fenced beyond that.
Ainsworth earlier defended the government’s decision to press ahead with the replacement of the Trident nuclear missile programme, as announced in last week’s green paper, ahead of the strategic review. Procurement decisions had already been made in 2006, he said, making it impossible to pull back on the multibillion-pound renewal of the submarines. Ainsworth added that it was likely that plans for new aircraft carriers, which were not guaranteed in the green paper, would go ahead ‘unless the strategic defence review takes a pretty radical direction’.
The defence secretary said future policy would involve more international coalitions and greater ‘joinery’ between UK armed forces to avoid any duplication of efforts and to save money.
But he sought to reassure civilian personnel that there would not be ‘too many’ further reductions in numbers. This could lead to military staff carrying out civilian duties, which would be more expensive and detract from their responsibilities elsewhere. Some 45,000 civilian posts have already been lost in the Ministry of Defence over the past ten years to cut costs.
