BRITAIN’S ARMED Forces face more damaging cuts unless the next government increases military spending after the election, two former Labour defence secretaries warn today.
Lord Hutton of Furness and Lord Robertson of Port Ellen insist that with “growing threats to international peace”, such as Vladimir Putin and Islamist extremism, it is “increasingly obvious” that defence spending must rise.
Failure to hold a wide-ranging review after the election and pay for what the military needs to counter the threats would be a “complete betrayal” of national security, they say.
The call from two senior Labourfigures – with one, Lord Robertson, being a former Nato secretary general – follows a series of calls from leaders on both sides of the Atlantic that Britain must hit the Nato target of spending two per cent of GDP on defence.
David Cameron and Ed Miliband have both refused to commit to the target as they consider more austerity cuts after the May 7 election.
A recent forecast by a respected think tank predicted that budgets could fall by a 10th and that the Army may shrink to as low as 50,000 reg- ular soldiers by the end of the decade.
The Labour peers today tell The Sunday Telegraph that all parties must “reflect on the growing consensus that we will need to do more in order to maintain efficient and effective Armed Forces”.
Mr Cameron has tried to prevent defence becoming an election issue and dismissed warnings from former service chiefs, suggesting that they were seeking publicity to sell books.
Lord Hutton and Lord Robertson said the warnings from figures including General Sir Peter Wall, Lord Stirrup and Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Graydon must be taken “very seriously indeed”.
The pair say they are not in favour of a strict two per cent target, but want spending to be set according to the dangers identified by next year’s strategic defence and security review (SDSR).
Lord Hutton said that could potentially be more than two per cent of GDP. Not paying for what is needed will leave any review “fatally compromised”, they say.
“Whatever we need to implement the SDSR strategy must be made available to the Ministry of Defence. Anything less than this would be a complete betrayal of the national security interests of the United Kingdom.” Mr Cameron has said the Tories will not cut the Forces’ numbers next Parliament, but defence chiefs fear that they will still be asked to trim equipment and training budgets.
Current spending plans will not be enough to stop “further de-stabilising and damaging cuts to the Armed Forces,” Lord Hutton and Lord Robertson warn.
“And in the short term there must be no irreversible changes in UK defence capacity – like further troop reductions. It is becoming increasingly obvious that the overall budget will need to be increased – by how much will be determined by the SDSR, as long as it is allowed to concentrate on the level of threats we face.”
Washington is increasingly worried about the state of Britain’s military and the mes- sage that UK defence cuts will send to Mr Putin.
Barack Obama has personally lobbied the Prime Minister to hit the target, saying “if Britain doesn’t spend two per cent on defence, then no one in Europe will.” The head of the US army said last month that he is “very concerned” about cuts to Britain’s defence budget and warned that they risk diminishing the Army’s ability to fight future campaigns.
General Raymond Odierno, the US chief of staff, said if Britain does not maintain defence spending at two per cent of GDP it may be reduced to a more junior role in future joint campaigns. To read the full statement go to www.telegraph.co.uk