Report Slams UK’s “Incoherent” Defense Policy

March 11, 2013 defense-aerospace.com

(Source: UK National Defence Association; issued March 11, 2013)

New Report Brands Coalition’s Defence Policy ‘Incoherent’

The United Kingdom is facing “a multiplicity of threats” with an “incoherent” defence policy in which “billions are spent on aircraft carriers with no aircraft” whilst military personnel are being made redundant in their thousands.

This is the message from the UK National Defence Association (UKNDA) which today (11 March) publishes a major new report on “Funding Defence” co-authored by a group of retired senior military officers including Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Graydon, General Sir Michael Rose and Vice-Admiral Sir Jeremy Blackham.

The UKNDA report endorses the recent call by the Secretary of State for Defence, Philip Hammond MP, for resources to be diverted from Welfare to Defence. “Defence needs steady and predictable funding”, say the report’s authors. Furthermore it is “a sound investment” for the taxpayer, “an excellent economic stimulus” that can create and sustain employment in industries and communities throughout Britain.

Defence spending is both a strategic and political imperative. “Europe, already weak, is disarming further”, says UKNDA. European nations have “sheltered under the US blanket” for many years, the report states, but the American commitment is “rapidly reducing” due to the Obama Administration’s budget cuts, and with very little appetite in the US for continuing to “pick up the European defence bill”.

Present economic circumstances and the Government’s aim of reducing the national deficit should not mean imposing further restrictions on Defence funding. Defence is “the essential guarantor of the nation’s freedom”. Unlike other areas of public expenditure, it has to be shaped by external factors and cannot be dictated by purely domestic political concerns.

With threats to the UK and international security growing, this is not the time to shrink Britain’s military. The loyalty and service of Britain’s military “cannot be assumed forever”, the report adds. “It has to be earned by the Government through a long term commitment to the careers and well-being of the personnel of the Armed Forces.”

The UKNDA authors state: “The challenge of how much to spend on Defence lies in a clear and honest view of our ambitions and obligations for today and the future.”


The UK National Defence Association (UKNDA) was formed in 2007 to make the case for strong national defence and properly-resourced Armed Forces.


Click here for the full report (16 PDF pages) on the UKNDA website.