The party refused to give a fixed amount for the commitment sought, but, in the decade after 9/11, defense spending increased by more than δι 10 billion a year in real terms, partly to pay for costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. John Healey, the party’s defense spokesman, said Downing Street urgently needed to review last year’s Comprehensive Defense and Foreign Policy Review, which outlined plans for an “Indo-Pacific tilt” to contain . Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has shown, healey said, that significant threats are much closer to home and that the UK should “honor our NATO commitments in Europe” and reverse a 9,500-size-a-half British military cut. until 2025. “‘World Britain’ was the prime minister ‘s plan of vanity, not a national strategy for Britain to be a force for good in the world. “He took security and prosperity for granted in Europe,” said Healey. “Ministers must respond to new threats to the security of the United Kingdom and Europe, as Workers in Government did in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks with the largest steady increase in defense spending in two decades,” the shadow minister added. Defense. The government’s Comprehensive Inspection, released last March, did not predict “either Taliban rule in Afghanistan or invasion of Ukraine,” Labor added. Instead, he proposed reducing the tanks by a third and discarding the Hercules transport aircraft, as well as reducing the size of the army to its lowest level since 1714. Under Keir Starmer, Labor was increasingly keen to present itself as a party focused on Britain’s national security – with Healey telling the Guardian that Labor would support any future increases in defense spending if proposed by the Conservative government. . Britain expects to spend 31 31.6 billion in day-to-day defense spending between 2021 and 2022, and an additional ,6 14.6 billion in capital. But despite government promises of a four-year boost to spending last year, rising inflation means spending is set to fall in real terms. The Institute for Fiscal Studies, an independent thinktank, estimates that the day-to-day defense budget could be reduced by 3% a year in real terms for the rest of parliament using the CPI inflation measure, and 1.9% a year with capital included in investment. Healy accused the ministers of presiding over inaction as the war in Ukraine continued, with no significant change announced by Chancellor Risi Sunak last week. Several other NATO countries, led by Germany, have pledged to cut defense spending since the start of the war. “Putin is not working according to the schedule of the Ministry of Finance or the five-year defense reviews of the Ministry of Finance. “Russia is waging war in Europe, so Britain can not continue its work as before,” he said. Britain has agreed to double Estonia’s 900 troops and send an additional 450 to Poland since the crisis began, but Eastern European NATO members, nervous of Russian intentions, want the alliance to move forward in the coming months. Additional developments will be agreed at the next military alliance summit in Madrid in June.
