Tories at war as ex-defence minister says Jeremy Hunt should be ashamed by cuts
A former Tory armed forces minister has told ministers they should be "ashamed of themselves" over the state of the armed forces.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has come under fire for not boosting defence spending despite Defence Secretary Grant Shapps pleading for it to go up. In a scathing broadside at the the Conservative frontbench, ex-minister Mark Francois accused ministers of being "deeply dishonourable".
MOD Minister James Cartlidge faced a wave of Tory anger over fears the UK would be unable to defend itself in the event of all-out war. Last month a report by MPs found the military is devastatingly short of weapons – and losing troops faster than they can recruit them.
Mr Francois told the Commons: "As a former Armed Forces minister, I pay high tribute to Her Majesty's Armed Forces, but not to Her Majesty's Treasury." He said the core defence budget next year has gone down by £2.5billion following Mr Hunt's Budget last week.
He said: "It ill behoves any government, let alone one which purports to call itself conservative, to then try and use one off payment to Ukraine or for overspends in the nuclear budget from the consolidated fund and pretend they're part of the defence budget when everyone in this House knows they're not."
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Mr Francois went on: "So I say to the Government, if not to the Minister, who I have great regard for as the son of a D-Day veteran, more an anger than in sorrow. What the government have done is deeply dishonorable and they should be ashamed of themselves."
And Tory John Baron said: "May I remind you that it's the first duty of any government to ensure that defence spending primarily reflects the threat rather than the ability to pay. We have a war in Europe.
"We have an increasingly belligerent Russia. I chair the 1922 Defence backbench committee backbenchers are very much behind the idea that we need to increase defence spending."
Labour said top Tries are too busy "warring with each other" as the threat of war grows. Shadow Defence Secretary John Healey blasted to lack of new funds for the armed forces.
It comes after Mr Shapps called on the Chancellor to raise defence speaking to 2.5% of gross domestic product (GDP). Mr Healey said: "The Defence Secretary owes the public and Parliament an explanation.
"He said we're moving into a pre-war world. Ahead of last week's budget, he wrote to the Chancellor and I quote, 'we must take bold action in your budget to commit to defence spending increasing to 2.5% in 2024. It would re-establish our leadership in Europe, but there is a growing gap between the Secretary's rhetoric and the reality for our armed forces that are charged with preparing for this new dangerous era'.
"In the budget there was no new money for defence, nothing new for Ukraine, nothing for Gaza or the UK's operations in the Middle East." He went on: "I am most concerned about the serious state of the UK armed forces. What signal does it send to our adversaries when our forces are being hollowed out and underfunded for the last 14 years?"
And he went on: "While Putin wages war in Europe, ministers are warring with each other, challenging defence policy in public."
Mr Cartlidge said that under Tory plans, 2.3% of GDP will be spent on defence, up from 2.1% in 2019. He implied it would be impossible to do more because of the state of public finances.
He said: "It has to be able to be an investment we can sustain and thereby the economy of the country has to be able to sustain it. Forgive me for sounding like the person in my previous job at the Treasury, but the country does have to be able to afford it.
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"And we do have to be prudent in how commitments we make on public expenditure, not least so that they are sustainable in the long term and not a one off." Mr Catlidge said the Government has committed to 2.5% "when the economy supports it".
Last month the Ready for War? study by the Commons Defence Committee calls for “rapidly accelerating reforms” to make sure the military can wage “all-out, prolonged war”. It says the Army, Royal Navy and RAF are facing such high demands while stretched so thin that Britain relies on their “can do” dedication.
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