Government U-Turn on defence spending
The UK National Defence Association (UKNDA) has given a qualified welcome to the Green Paper on defence and the Government's stated intention to ring-fence funding for the Armed Forces
The Green Paper, entitled Adaptability and Partnership: Issues for the Strategic Defence Review, aims to set out the challenges and open up debate on defence policy. It contains no concrete proposals but provides the framework for the SDR. Coinciding with today's (Feb 3) presentation of the Green Paper to Parliament by the Defence Secretary, the UKNDA issues its own report on The Defence Needs of the United Kingdom in Election Year and Beyond.
UKNDA Deputy Chief Executive, Andy Smith, said: "After recent drastic cuts in defence, the Government's stated intention to safeguard the core defence budget and provide an extra £1.5bn for our forces in Afghanistan is a major U-turn, and a most welcome one.
"It is certainly more than the Conservative opposition are offering, since they dropped their proposed ring-fencing of defence last year. We look forward to seeing the development of a broad consensus on defence funding, with all the major parties standing firm against cuts to the Armed Forces."
