Iain Duncan Smith is a former Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, and is MP for Chingford and Woodford Green.
The first duty of any government is to protect its people. Too often this mantra is uttered by politicians and then quickly forgotten by them as the annual spending round is settled.
Defence gets into the queue and as health, education and the other spending departments jostle for priority, all too often gets squeezed out.
That’s why I welcome the Prime Ministers significant commitment to a sustained increase in defence spending, the largest since the cuts at the end of the Cold War.
The reason for this is quite simple: The free world is less safe now than it has been at any time since the fall of the Soviet Union. There is a new axis of totalitarian states now calling the shots on a number of continents. Their purpose is clear: to bring about an end to the concept of pluralistic democracy, the rule of law, and human rights.
China – the second most powerful country in the world and now with the second largest navy, army, and air force – sits at the heart of this new axis, linking together North Korea, Russia, and Iran; President Xi Jinping has made it abundantly clear that he considers democracy an aberration and that unelected autocracies like China are the natural order.
Given this growing threat, the Government has done the right thing in putting increased amounts of money into defence.
The British Army, one of the most professional and well-trained in the world, proudly provide one of NATO’s strategic reserves, with 16,000 troops deployed to Europe this year. The Royal Air Force is equipped with new Typhoons, Chinooks, F35s, and alongside Italy and Japan is developing the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), our next, sixth-generation combat aircraft.
The Royal Navy, a carrier navy once again, has 22 new ships and submarines on the way. The strategic AUKUS partnership between the USA, Australia and the UK will put the Royal Navy back in Southeast Asia, alongside our new trade arrangements in the CPTPP.
European members of NATO have consistently failed to meet their target to spend two percent of GDP on defence, whilst overall the UK is second only to the US for the amount spent on defence. It is time all other NATO nations followed our example and invested properly in the alliance’s defence resources.
However, I firmly agree with Rishi Sunak when he says we must go further.
The appalling invasion of Ukraine by Russia shows no sign of ending. Rather, Ukraine is on the back foot because as Moscow goes on the offensive and seeks to capture more territory. Supported by its allies in the new axis, Russia’s invasion has damaged us all; sending energy prices and inflation soaring.
Russia is increasingly acting with Iran, sending technology in exchange for weapons such as the Shaheed drones. Furthermore, the brutal Hamas attacks on Israel (also Tehran-backed) had the effect of taking pressure of Russia. Iran themselves have widened the conflict and used proxies like the Houthis to attack British ships in the Red Sea, disrupting supplies of crucial goods around the world.
Seven of us in Parliament have been sanctioned by China for drawing the world’s attention to Beijing’s brutal genocide of the Uyghur people.
In retaliation, China is mounting cyber campaigns against my colleagues and I, as well as countless other organisations and companies. The Beijing regime is spying on us, destroying the vestiges of freedom in Hong Kong, and pursuing genocide against Uyghurs and Tibetans.
China has seized the South China Sea and is militarising it, despite the UN making it clear they have no right to do so; it is threatening Taiwan with war unless that democratic state surrenders to Beijing.
All this is why the Prime Ministers announcement to increase defence spending to a new baseline of 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2030 is the right one, as is his announcement of £500m more in aid for Ukraine. The harsh reality is that we cannot let Putin win in Ukraine or it won’t stop there. Xi is already threatening Taiwan, and watches the West’s response.
When broken down, this announcement means an additional £75bn for defence over the next six years, which will make a substantial difference, and £10bin for munitions to give long-term funding certainty to industry.
Sunak’s commitment to spend five per cent of the defence budget on research and development will mean investment in autonomous drones and, in the private sector, on other emerging new technologies, including hugely advanced laser-directed energy weapons, in which Britain is a world leader.
Overall, it means our defence spending rises to £87bn a year – the biggest strengthening of our national defence in a generation and guaranteeing our position as the second largest defence power in NATO after the United States.
At the same time, the announced reforms to procurement should mean that the system is simpler and, I hope, more likely to deliver on budget and on time. Although I have heard similar commitments before from many governments, I hope this time the Ministry of Defence finally gets it right.
Furthermore, having served in the Scots Guards some years ago, I believe that recruitment should be taken back into the hands of the armed forces. The experiment in outside organisations running recruitment has been a failure, and with numbers at record lows (particularly in the Army) this is something that needs changing fast. Let the forces go into communities and recruit as they used to.
The Prime Minister’s announcement is very welcome and shows the seriousness with which he takes our obligation to defend our people and our allies. After all the only way to peace with justice is through strength. Si vis pacem, para bellum.
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Author: Iain Duncan Smith MP
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