NEWS RELEASE
13 August 2010: Release time immediate
MoD REFORM MUST NOT BECOME SMOKESCREEN FOR MORE DEFENCE CUTS, SAY ARMED FORCES CAMPAIGNERS
The United Kingdom National Defence Association (UKNDA) has welcomed Defence Secretary Liam Fox's speech setting out his vision for a more efficient Ministry of Defence and more flexible Armed Forces. But the UKNDA has warned that "defence reform" must not become a smokescreen for further cuts to the defence budget or the lowering of Britain's military capabilities.
UKNDA spokesman Andy Smith said: "The Defence Secretary is right to say that to meet the threats to UK security in the years and decades ahead we need to improve the efficiency of the Ministry of Defence and the flexibility and versatility of our Armed Forces. But it is vital that the proposed programme of 'reform' does not become an excuse to squeeze the UK's defence budget even further.
"For the past two decades, under successive governments, funding for our military has been reduced, year on year, leaving our Armed Forces chronically under-resourced and over-stretched. We have reached the point where we urgently need to increase the resources available to the military, not cut them back further and thus risk serious threats to the security of the nation.
"Any savings that can be made through the Defence Secretary's proposed effeciency drive at the MoD must be reinvested into the expansion of our Armed Forces and the provision of adequate manpower, training and equipment. Only this way can we repair the vast gaping holes that have been left in our defence capabilities by more than 20 years of neglect, under-funding and political short-termism."
-Ends
Media contacts: Cdr John Muxworthy, Chief Executive, e-mail ceo@uknda.org, tel 01264 860693, or Andy Smith, Public Relations Officer and Deputy Chief Executive, e-mail pro@uknda.org, tel 07737 271676.
Notes to Editors:
The United Kingdom National Defence Association (UKNDA) was formed in 2007 to campaign in support of Britain's Armed Forces. Tri-Service and politically independent, the UKNDA aims to ensure that Britain's fighting men and women are properly trained, equipped, sustained and cared for. The Association's founder-President, Winston S. Churchill, the former MP and war correspondent (and grandson of Britain's WWII Prime Minister), died on March 2, 2010. The Patrons of the UKNDA include three former Chiefs of the Defence Staff.
For more information on the UKNDA, go to www.uknda.org
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