The Spectator

How to fix our defence budget mess

It’s never a good idea to define achievement purely in terms of spending – but it’s a worse one to guarantee aid spending while not doing the same for defence

With the exception of 1983, when Michael Foot promised unilateral nuclear disarmament, defence has played little role in modern election campaigns. This is not least because the two main parties appear to have developed a non-aggression pact. They have agreed to heap praise upon the armed forces and commit them to ever more frequent foreign campaigns — while simultaneously nibbling away at the defence budget to fund programmes which offer more instant gratification to the electorate.

This week, as the news emerged of Russia’s plan to lease 12 long-range bombers to Argentina, the Defence Secretary, Michael Fallon, announced the results of the latest review into how we protect the Falkland Islands. He promised to spend £180 million over ten years improving the military base on the islands, including better housing and a new primary school. While that is all welcome, it does not address an underlying deficiency of our armed forces: we are trying to defend the legacy of Britain’s centuries as a great maritime power with a navy that is a shadow of its former self. Our military is shrinking, and our stature along with it.

The task force sent to reclaim the Falklands in 1982 included two aircraft carriers, eight destroyers and 15 frigates. The entire British Navy now comprises one hulk of an aircraft carrier without any aircraft, six destroyers and 13 frigates. Naval bases have been turned into museums and waterfront housing developments. To a cross-channel ferry passenger leaving Portsmouth, it looks all too much as if a cack-handed manoeuvre on the part of the ferry captain could wipe out half the British Navy. True, a properly functioning air base on the Falklands is of more value than an entire flotilla of aircraft carriers 10,000 miles away, as was emphasised in 1982 — when the success of the campaign served to smother criticism of the woeful neglect of the islands’ defences before the invasion.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading with a free trial

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that it’s just £1 a week.

There’s no commitment, you can cancel any time.

Or

Unlock more articles

REGISTER

Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in