Two ministers have urged the government to increase defence spending in the face of growing threats.
Anne-Marie Trevelyan, a foreign office minister and former defence minister, and Tom Tugendhat, the security minister and an experienced soldier, have broken ranks.
The pair published an article online that does not appear to have been sanctioned by Downing Street, calling on the government to up defence spending.
“It’s clear to us that the UK needs to lead the way in increasing our own domestic defence and security spending commitments to 2.5 percent and beyond,” they wrote in a piece posted on Ms Trevelyan’s LinkedIn page on Friday evening.
“Former defence secretary Ben Wallace and prime minister Boris Johnson made inroads into growing our defence budgets, which had been shrinking in real terms for years. But that only filled the hole. Now we need growth.”
Their calls come amid growing displeasure among Tory MPs and military experts over the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s failure to announce new defence funding in the spring budget.
Instead Hunt said he would increase defence spending to 2.5 percent of national income, from just over 2 percent at present, “as soon as economic conditions allow”.
Trevelyan and Tugendhat also urged the government to strengthen the UK’s nuclear deterrent, regrow the Royal Navy, invest in more weapons and accelerate plans to build a new generation of fighter jets.
“None of this is wasted cash. It’s investment in our own economy. And it protects our future economic security,” the ministers said.
“The sad truth is that the world is no longer benign. Protecting ourselves requires investment. And effective investment means that our industrial complex must grow and strengthen at much greater pace than at present.
“We cannot turn on the complex platforms and weapons which ensure military advantage overnight. We must start that growth now, invest at pace to support our allies and stay ahead of our adversaries.”
They also noted how Russia spends 40 percent of its expenditure on defence and China has just announced a 7.2 percent increase to defence spending.
