MPs concerned about military gaps left by defence review

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, Aug 3, IRNA -- The parliamentary Defence Committee said Wednesday it is not convinced that UK Armed Forces will be able do what is asked of them after 2015, given the current financial climate and the drawdown of capabilities arising from the Strategic Defence and Security Review.

In a damning report, MPs noted mounting concern that UK Armed Forces may be “falling below the minimum utility required to deliver the commitments that they are currently being tasked to carry out let alone the tasks they are likely to face between 2015 to 2020 when it is acknowledged that there will be capability gaps.”

“The Committee is concerned that UK Armed Forces will be continually operating at the maximum level envisaged by the Defence Planning Assumptions,” they said.

The report rejected Prime Minister David Cameron’s view that the UK currently has a full spectrum defence capability as it already has been by single service chiefs.

It also said that the all-party committee is “not convinced that this aspiration can be achieved by co-operation with our allies given the challenges of aligning political with operational needs.”

Committee chair James Arbuthnot said the cuts made in last year’s defence review is a “clear example of the need for savings overriding the strategic security of the UK and the capability requirements of the Armed Forces.”

“The government needs to outline its plans to manage the gap left by the loss of these capabilities and lay out detailed plans for their regeneration,” Arbuthnot said, when launching the report.

The MPs also said it did not agree with the way the government appears to believe that the UK can maintain its influence while reducing spending in defence and at the Foreign Office.

“If the UK’s influence in the world is to be maintained, the government must demonstrate in a clear and convincing way that these reductions have been offset by identifiable improvements elsewhere rather than imprecise assertions of an increased reliance on diplomacy and ‘soft power’,” Arbuthnot said.

“If the government cannot do so, the National Security Strategy is in danger of becoming a ‘wish list’ that fails to make the hard choices necessary to ensure the nation’s security,” he warned.

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