NEWS RELEASE 18 July 2011: Release time immediate Coalition "doesn't understand defence" The UK National Defence Association (UKNDA) has described the Government's plan to cut the regular army by a fifth as "mind-bogglingly idiotic". A spokesman said the decision to reduce British army manpower to barely 80,000 shows that the Coalition "completely fails to understand defence". UKNDA director Andy Smith said: "Boosting the reserves will not compensate for slashing the regular army, the navy and the air force. The Government talks about providing 'extra' money for defence, but this is not really extra money at all, as the overall defence budget has already been cut to the bone and our military capabilities are shrinking by the day. Investing in training and new equipment is vitally important but what is being offered now is too little too late. -Ends P.O. Box 819, Portsmouth, PO1 9FF. Tel 07737 271676.
Press contact: Andy Smith, Director (Chief Exec pro tem), UK National Defence Association,
UKNDA HQ: 023 9283 1728. Website www.uknda.org
Monday, 18 July 2011
He added: "Liam Fox is putting a brave face on the complete emasculation of his department. For the past year George Osborne and the Treasury have been raiding the MOD budget simply to patch up the funding gaps elsewhere in government. This is Coalition policy - sacrifice the defence of the realm for political expediency, while crossing your fingers that nothing untoward will happen.
"Incredibly, despite the dangerous world situation, we now have the smallest army in more than a hundred years and the smallest navy in four hundred years. And yet the Prime Minister continues to claim that the nation's security is his top priority, while at the same time allowing the Treasury to systematically rape our armed forces. The Coalition is trying to get defence on the cheap. After a year in office the PM and his Cabinet still fail to understand the threats we face, the capabilities we require to meet them, and the funding needed to deliver these capabilities.
"The Government's defence policy is mind-bogglingly idiotic. It not just irresponsible - it is gross negligence."
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