Aid missions ‘draining the military’s resources’

BRITAIN’S military must stop being used as a ‘cash cow’ for overseas aid missions, the ex-Armed Forces minister says today.

Sir Mike Penning warns operations such as the Royal Navy’s task of rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean are ‘draining military capabilities’.

The senior Tory said the Ministry of Defence had to stop being seen as a ‘soft option’, warning that the backbone of the UK’s operational defence capability is being ‘stripped out’.

Sir Mike, a former soldier who served eight years as a Grenadier Guard, also said the annual £2billion running costs of the Trident nuclear deterrent should be removed from the defence budget to free up more cash. The former minister said: ‘The MoD has got to stop being a soft option, it needs to spend what it has wisely and stand up to those who see it as a cash cow.’

In an article for MailOnline, he wrote: ‘The core and the back- bone of our operational defence capability is being stripped out at a time when our enemies are testing us every day.’ He said the Department for International Development (Dfid) should shoulder the cost of more aid missions so naval assets could be freed up to carry out other tasks. Sir Mike added: ‘The question to be asked is why it should be our ships and troops that are being used when there are other ways to deliver help.’ The Royal Navy has been providing ships to rescue migrants and destroy smuggling boats in the Mediterranean since 2015.

Sir Mike wrote: ‘Why can’t we use some of the 0.7 per cent we have committed to international aid to lease ships that are much more suitable for the job? Other countries involved in this rescue effort are doing just that.

‘This would free up the Royal Navy to do what they are trained and equipped to do – namely protect us.’ He went on: ‘We should be using the Department for International Development cash where it is needed, not draining our military capabilities.’ A Dfid spokesman said the department and the MoD both want to use the aid and defence budgets ‘in the wisest way’.

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