Liam Fox avoids answering the 'will you spend more on defence?' question

Earlier today Shadow Defence Secretary Liam Fox was interviewed about the overstretch problems facing Britain's armed forces:

• Another 1,000 British troops are about to be deployed - to Kosovo.  The Sunday Telegraph noted that these troops are "the military's last remaining reserve unit".
• According to a report in The Sunday Times, "a senior defence official has warned that the armed forces are heading for a “train crash” because the government is starving them of funds for vital equipment."
• Only yesterday The Sun hit hard against Labour's underfunding of the armed forces: "Defence spending has not risen beyond two per cent of what the nation has earned every year.  That is HALF the level of when we won the Falklands War in 1982."

Liam Fox was repeatedly asked if the Conservatives would spend more on defence.  He said that his first hope was that other NATO countries would bear more of the burden of the west's defence.  He noted that 23% of US forces were currently deployed, 22% of UK troops and no more than 5% of any other NATO member states' armed forces. NATO, he said, must be more than the UK, US and Canada.

Related link: Time to invest in our armed forces before it's too late says Mark Allatt

Video: Liam Fox and Winston Churchill discuss defence budgeting

Comments

[Paul Oakley]

Surprisingly bad form from Liam. The answer should be an unequivocal "yes".

[Malcolm Dunn]

Has he been prevented from saying what he thinks by George Osborne? It is a difficult thing to make spending commitments long before an election but I would hope that we would be able to say now that Defence spending would have a much higher priority than it does under the present government.
Why are we sending any troops at all to Kosovo? If I was Fox I would be arguing very hard against this deployment. Let our useless 'allies' send troops instead.

[Tony Makara]

The armed forces are the backbone of our nation, they should not remain underfunded. It is for Liam Fox to find the money and restore the armed forces to their proper place at the head of the pecking order. There is no time for political prudence when it comes to the armed forces. What they need, they should get, find the money, this isn't open to debate.

[Umbrella man]

Tony Makara: "It is for Liam Fox to find the money and restore the armed forces to their proper place at the head of the pecking order."

No, Tony. It is for George Osborne to find the money (under pressure from Liam Fox).

[Tony Makara]

Umbrella man, wherever the money comes from it must be found. It is a disgrace that young soldiers are dying because they don't have even basic protective equipment. Looking to wider issues we need to beef up our military capabilities. I don't buy into the peace dividend nonsense, the military must be in a state of readiness at all times. We have been caught short too often in our history, those lessons must be learnt.

[michael mcgough]

Oh dear.His first hope may be to secure more support from other Nato countries but his first assertion must be to fully fund our necessary forces.That other countries get a free ride is a separate issue.I note that the European Defence Force now appears primarily as a vehicle to get other EU countries to pay their dues.

[Scotty]

I stand to be corrected, but surely if other Nato nations were to increase their commitment to defence spending by taking on a more active role in area's like Afghanistan thus allowing us to reduce ours numbers in the short term, wouldn't that allow us to at least start to properly equip the soldiers out of the current budget while also allowing serving soldiers and their families a chance to recover from the last 6/7 years of continuous deployments?
We are training young men and women to be soldiers but I think the retention rate of experienced personal is our biggest problem.
We are not able to look after those soldiers and families adequately as it is.

I know that Liam Fox and a Conservative government would like to increase funding, but as with any future tax cut aspirations we might have, would you make these kind of commitments on the same day this Labour government has decided to nationalise NR?
Just what state is the government finances going to be in when we next get into No10?

With family members in the armed forces I know just how desperate things are, we might be placed in the short to long term position of not being able to sustain our overseas commitments because our armed forces are at breaking point and the bank account is empty?
Its going to take years to mend the military covenant this government broke.

[Patrick Schneider-Sikorsky]

After countless stories of avoidable deaths and criticism from all quarters, it beggars belief that we still cannot commit to higher Defence spending. It may not poll well, but we must give our troops everything they need to maximise their security and carry out their objectives.

[Scotty]

"It may not poll well, but we must give our troops everything they need to maximise their security and carry out their objectives."
I passionately agree with your sentiments Patrick.

But right now, today, should we be sending them to Iraq, Afghanistan or any other country outside the UK if we can't give them the most basic up to date equipment and air cover to carry out their objectives?

We could be at minimum two years away from a Conservative government, forget the polls or any aspirations we might have to increase spending in the future. We are in opposition and our priority is stop Gordon Brown destroying the very foundations of our military capability now, or we will not have a viable one in the foreseeable future no matter how much we promise to increase future spending on entering government.

With the best will in the world, neither Liam Fox or George Osborne are going to be able to wave a magic wand and produce more than a headline with a promise of increased spending at sometime in the future when we have a Conservative government. So I want to see Liam Fox on the airwaves fighting for our soldiers and their families as he did in his speech at the party conference, forcing this disgraceful government to either pull out of its Foreign commitments or increase spending to fund them.

[Tony Makara]

It may come as a surprise to some but countries will exert themselves militarily to gain access to export markets. As China and Russia gain greater economic power in the world those two powers will want to protect their interests with a far greater military presence, this particularly applies to their access to energy. The west needs to maintain a high level of military strength to deter any such ambitions by emerging economic superpowers.

[martin]

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Thankyou

[Josh]

Surely the issue is not whether Liam will throw more money at the MoD, but rather, will the money spent match the commitments. The problem right now is that the Labour government is asking a heck of a lot from our armed forces but not giving them the resources to do it.

If Liam said he wouldn't increase spending on defense, but would also reduce defence commitments, then that would be okay too.