Budgeting for Defence in the UK , August 8, , 2024
Budgeting for Defence in the UK , August 8, , 2024
From the document: "The Labour Government, elected in July 2024, immediately commissioned a Strategic Defence Review. The announcement said “Amid war in Europe after Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, conflict in the Middle East, and global threats increasing, the review will consider the threats Britain faces, the capabilities needed to meet them, the state of UK armed forces and the resources available.” The focus of this paper is consideration of the resources available, choosing the defence budget, which the government will do in the context of a more general spending review. While the Prime Minister has reaffirmed his “serious commitment” to spending 2.5% of GDP on defence, no timetable has been given.
It is generally agreed that the current programme is both unaffordable and inadequate. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) forecasts that during the 10 years to 2032-33 total planned defence spending will exceed the projected defence budget by £42.5bn, NAO (2023, 2.8). Rob Johnson, who had recently retired as the Director of the Office of Net Assessment and Challenge said “The UK armed forces ‘cannot defend the British homelands properly’ and are unprepared for ‘conflict at any scale’.”4 John Healey in the announcement of the review said “we need a new era for defence. Hollowed-out armed forces, procurement waste and neglected morale cannot continue.”
Constructing a new defence budget will be central to the Review. But since defence budgets are quite opaque, an introduction to the numbers and issues may be useful. This paper will emphasise the choices to be made rather than suggest what those choices should be."
Authors - Smith, RonRelated Resources
