Ex-Nato chief: Lack of defence cash sends Putin the wrong signal
THE failure to boost defence spending in the Budget is ‘giving the wrong signal’ to Vladimir Putin, a former Nato chief warned last night.
Lord Robertson said it was disturbing that ministers were unwilling to make the ‘serious investment’ needed.
The Labour peer, who served as Nato secretary-general, said the West had to make clear to Putin ‘at every stage’ that it would commit the resources necessary to defeat him in Ukraine.
‘The stakes are enormously high because if he wins in Ukraine he won’t stop there. and what is disturbing to me is we had a Budget in the UK last week with no mention of defence expenditure and increasing it,’ he told BBC Radio 4’s Westminster Hour.
He added: ‘and although (defence Secretary Grant) Shapps is now talking about spending 3 per cent (of GdP) on defence, there was no indication in the Budget from the Chancellor or the Prime Minister that they’re willing to make the serious investment that would actually turn the tide in this conflict.’
‘We’re at war, we’re involved in a war with a nuclear power on the other side of Europe.
‘and for a Budget to be produced that simply talks about aspirations but offers nothing more in terms of replenishing the stocks that we’ve already given or adding to the defence expenditure of the country seems to me to be missing the point and giving the wrong signal to the people in the Kremlin.’
Lord Robertson, a former Labour defence secretary, acknowledged that his own party would also have to commit to spending much more on defence if it wins power. ‘It’s going to be a hard time for an incoming Labour government to deal with the mess that they are going to inherit, but they’ll have to look at their responsibilities for protecting the people of the country. That is, after all, the main obligation.’ He also stressed the world should not feel intimidated by ‘nuclear blackmail’ from Putin.
‘He knows that we have got means of retaliating and we would retaliate if there was any prospect that he was going to use nuclear weapons,’ he said. This newspaper has highlighted the shocking black holes in the UK’s defence budget and reliance on allies at a time of escalating global dangers.