Fox: Deficit damaging Britain’s ability to defend itself
By Ian Dunt
The state of the public finances means that Britain will no longer be able to defend itself against all possible threats, the defence secretary has admitted.
Speaking as a strategic defence review establishes the priorities in the generations to come, Liam Fox said the strain on the public finances meant Britain had to be “realistic” about the nature of future threats.
“We don’t have the money as a country to protect ourselves against every potential future threat,” he said.
“We just don’t have it.
“We have to look at where we think the real risks will come from, where the real threats will come from and we need to deal with that accordingly. The Russians are not going to come over the European plain any day soon.”
He added: “I did not come into politics to see reductions in the armed forces but I also did not come into politics to see the destruction of the economy.”
Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Dr Fox was quick to stress how unfortunate the situation was.
“It is very difficult for someone like me who is a fiscal hawk and hawkish on defence policy to arrive here at a time when the previous government have bankrupted us,” he said.
“It is really difficult and we will have to make really hard choices. Labour have left us with such a car crash that next year the interest on the national debt will be nearly one and half times the defence budget. That is not sustainable.”
The latter half of the Twentieth Century saw Britain develop an ability to conduct military engagements across the full spectrum of eventualities, from all-out warfare to medium and low level campaigns, such as the Falklands.
The comments raise the distinct possibility of British troops no longer being stationed in Germany, where there are currently 25,000 personnel.
“I would say, what do Challenger tanks in Germany and the costs of maintaining them and the personnel required to train for them, what does that contribute to what’s happening in Afghanistan?” the defence secretary said.
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