British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has given his backing to what is being touted as the biggest investment program in the country’s armed forces since the end of the Cold War three decades ago.
Johnson yesterday laid out the details of a four-year financial deal for the Ministry of Defense that he said would “transform” the military, pivoting it toward potential future threats.
“The international situation is more perilous and more intensely competitive than at any time since the Cold War, and Britain must be true to our history and stand alongside our allies,” he said.
Photo: EPA-EFE / Jessica Taylor / UK Parliament handout
Johnson told parliament about the proposal remotely, because he is self-isolating after coming into contact with someone who subsequently tested positive for COVID-19.
He said the armed forces would receive an additional ￡16.5 billion (US$22 billion) over and above the government’s current plans.
British Secretary of State for Defense Ben Wallace said the deal was “enough” for the armed forces to be modernized, but refused to be drawn on whether some of the new money would come from the country’s overseas aid budget.
“This means that we can have a proper discussion about what are our global ambitions and how are we going to fund it,” he told Sky News. “When I go abroad, what many countries want from us is our knowledge, our equipment, and our understanding of how to provide security and how to provide defense.”
Concerns have grown in recent months that the government is looking at ways to trim its commitments to overseas aid, partly because public finances have been strained by the costs associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
The government has already rolled the department overseeing overseas aid into the Foreign Office and some in the government have argued for a reduction in aid spending from 0.7 percent of gross national income to 0.5 percent, which would equate to billions of pounds.
Wallace said that the government was not “abandoning the battlefield of international aid,” but said the “decisions on the numbers” would be revealed by British Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak next week.
Johnson’s Conservative Party, in its election manifesto last year, committed to increase defense spending by 0.5 percent above inflation until 2025.
As part of the new defense spending, a new agency dedicated to artificial intelligence is to be created.
A “space command” capable of launching the UK’s first rocket by 2022 is also envisioned.
Military chiefs have argued strongly for a multiyear deal so they can plan ahead, despite Sunak’s abandonment of a long-term spending review as a result of the pandemic.
Johnson’s Downing Street office said the cash boost would “cement the UK’s position as the largest defense spender in Europe and the second-largest in NATO.”
Additional reporting by AFP
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