Tom Tugendhat is publicly pressuring Jeremy Hunt to go further on defence spending, after last week’s Budget ignored calls to provide a boost to Britain’s security.
Speaking this morning, the security minister defended an article he co-authored on Friday, calling for the Government to spend 2.5% of GDP on defence “as soon as possible”.
He also appeared to break from current Government policy by adding that the UK Government should achieve 2.5% “and beyond”, something not yet on the cards.
As well as refusing to cough up extra cash for the Ministry of Defence last Wednesday, the current Government policy is to merely hit 2.5% at an unspecified date, and remain at the current 2.2% for the foreseeable.
Mr Tugendhat told Sky News: “Look at the world we’re seeing today, look at the rise in autocracy, look at challenges that we’re facing.
“We’ve got to achieve the 2.5% as soon as possible, that’s exactly what we must do, we must that increase in defence and that’s why we need to have the boost in growth that Jeremy set out.”
Asked if he want’s to see the Chancellor do more, Mr Tugendhat said he wants to “achieve 2.5% now, as soon as possible”.
He said: “That is exactly what we need to achieve. The first step is to get to 2.5%, and then we’ll have to adjust as the challenges we face evolve.”
On Friday Mr Tugendhat published a joint statement on LinkedIn with fellow minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan, in an apparent critique of the Budget.
The Red Book published alongside Mr Hunt’s Wednesday announcement revealed that MoD funding is to be cut next year, by £2.2billion in resource spending and £0.3billion in capital funding.
Defence Secretary Grant Shapps, who had been pressing for extra cash, is now set to be hauled in front of the Defence Select Committee to explain the spending decision.
On Thursday, committee member Mark Francois said: “The Defence Secretary recently warned that we are moving from a ‘post-war to a pre-war world’ – but nobody seems to have told HM Treasury.
“Does Russia have to get to Warsaw before we start spending what we need to on Defence?”
Usually the call by Mr Tugendhat and Ms Trevelyan was not cleared by No. 10, as it was technically a social media post rather than a newspaper column.
The security minister said: “This is entirely in keeping with government policy, and this is a social media post.
“We don’t normally clear government policy social media posts through Number 10.”
The pair’s social media demand for extra defence cash asked: “Is two per cent enough?
“Geopolitical reality is reflected in defence budgets around the world. China announced this week that it was increasing its defence spending by another 7.2 per cent this year, taking it to $230 billion. That’s more than twice what it was a decade ago. Russia is committed to spending 40 per cent of its expenditure on defence and security this year. Vast sums by any standard to fight its illegal war in Ukraine.
“By contrast, the US defence budget is $842 billion this year, up less than 50 per cent over the same period. And the UK’s defence budget has risen from £43 billion to £55 billion – an increase of only 28 per cent.”
They concluded: “Strengthening our defence and security isn’t just necessary to deter these threats. It’s necessary to protect our future prosperity.”
