Government ‘has hollowed out defence spending’
The Government has been accused of hollowing out defence spending despite the Prime Minister announcing he made a choice to “prioritise defence” and not rule out cuts to other services.
Rishi Sunak has committed to reaching 2.5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2030, spending more than £75billion more on defence over the next six years compared with current levels.
The commitment will be funded by slashing 72,000 civil service jobs, but economists have warned it will also require deep cuts in other areas of public spending – but not in the NHS or education budgets.
But Portsmouth South MP Stephen Morgan has said the pledge was, in fact, nothing new, and instead accused the government of more ‘broken promises’.
Speaking at a press conference in Berlin, the Prime Minister said: “The plan that I announced yesterday is fully funded. It’s funded rightly by a reduction in the civil service headcount back to 2019 levels… combined with an uplift in R&D spending. We are making a choice to prioritise defence.”
But Portsmouth South MP Stephen Morgan said the Conservatives ‘could not be trusted’ with defence spending – a key priority for many people in the naval city.
He said: “Over the last 14 years, the Conservatives have hollowed out our Armed Forces, created a recruitment crisis and cut the Army to its smallest size since Napoleon, while wasting over £15billion in bad defence procurement.
“Yesterday’s commitment made by the Prime Minister to hit 2.5 per cent on defence by 2030 was first made by Boris Johnson two years ago.
“Five Budgets later, this has been proven as yet another broken promise made by this Conservative Government.”
This has been proven as yet another broken promise by this Government