The new report on National Security by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) is "fundamentally flawed", according to the United Kingdom National Defence Association (UKNDA).

 

Shared Responsibilities: A National Security Strategy for the UK, published today by the IPPR, advocates substantial further cuts to Britain's already pared-to-the-bone Defence capabilities, including the axing of the aircraft carrier programme and the replacement Trident nuclear deterrent. The report also recommends a move away from Britain's traditional focus on the alliance with the USA, towards a Europe-centred Defence policy.

 

UKNDA Chief Executive, Cdr John Muxworthy, said: "The IPPR report is fundamentally flawed. It starts from the basic assumption that Britain can no longer afford a full-spectrum Armed Forces cabability and that we should therefore scale back our military, give up on Afghanistan, and cancel a whole tranche of Defence programmes.

 

"The UKNDA's position is quite different. In our view, what Britain cannot afford to do is risk making the swingeing cuts that the IPPR proposes. If we do, our military will be more thinly stretched and our country more vulnerable to external threats than at any time since WW2. Unlike other areas of Government expenditure, funding for Defence has been continually squeezed for the past two decades, with the result that our Forces are already chronically overstretched. To cut them back further would be the height of folly.

 

"The IPPR report rightly recognises that there is a gaping 'black hole' in the Defence budget and calls for the Government to undertake a Defence & Security Review, already long overdue (the last review was 11 years ago). But instead of recommending that we increase Defence funding in order to repair the damage done since the 1990s the report's authors seem content to advocate a further shrinking of Britain's military capability, to the point where we would be wholly dependent on Europe for our Defence.

 

"I am glad that the IPPR has helped to stir up debate on Defence and National Security - but with this report they are barking up the wrong tree. What the IPPR do not seem to have acknowledged is that the UK is, and must remain, a significant global player. We are a major trading nation and, despite the current recession, we are still a leading global economy with worldwide interests to protect, not least our seaborne trade. We must continue to stand alongside America - that is absolutely fundamental. It would be sheer folly to retreat to the role of European bit-player, heavily reliant on France and Germany."

 

The UKNDA was formed in 2007 to campaign in support of Britain's Armed Forces. Its President is Winston S. Churchill, former MP and war correspondent (and grandson of Britain's wartime Prime Minister). Tri-Service and politically independent, the UKNDA aims to ensure that Britain's fighting men and women are properly trained, equipped, sustained and cared for. The UKNDA calls for an urgent Defence Review, with funding in place to ensure that the nation can match resources to requirements. For details, go to www.uknda.org

 
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