UK Military Underfunded and Overstretched
The UK National Defence Association - a group made up of UK politicians and ex-military leaders - has warned of the dire situation facing the armed forces. Specifically, it claims the military is stretched beyond capacity and not receiving sufficient funding.
The President of the association is Winston Churchill - the grandson of the famed WWII British leader. In his view, the current level of defence spending "just doesn't add up", and ought to be approximately three per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The 2008 Defence Budget for 2008 is £34 billion - around 2 per cent of GDP.
Among the patrons of the group are Admiral Lord Boyce and the former Foreign Secretary, Lord Owen, as well as Lord Craig, the Marshal of the Royal Air Force.
UK Armed Forces Operating at Full Capacity
Lord Boyce, urging for the retention of armed forces members, said: "We're finding at the moment that the forces are at full stretch and we can expect to be in Afghanistan for many years ahead. We need to recruit soldiers, sailors and airmen and we need to retain them when they come in."
He continued: "If people are seeing that the government is not prepared to support them properly then we're not going to get those recruits, we're not going to be able to retain people and we're not going to be able to deliver the commitment we should be giving to Afghanistan and indeed Iraq."
Politicians Urged to Consider UK Military Long-Term
Another Patron, General Lord Guthrie, stressed the need for those in the political sphere to "think very hard" about the long-term vision for the UK military. "I would ask politicians, and those who want to be politicians, to just think very hard about do they want to destroy and damage something which is really admired around the world and delivers for good and has never let us down", he said.
Mr Churchill stated: "At the time of the Falklands 25 years ago we were spending 5% of our gross domestic product on defence. Today it's down to 2.1% and we're fighting the two most intense wars we've fought since Korea."
The Ministry of Defence affirmed that it was receptive to any new venture designed to generate informed debate when it came to military issues. However, it added that a £7.7 billion increase in defence spending was due to be put in place within the next four years.
Source - Armed Forces International's Political Correspondent
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