• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Excelitas Qioptiq banner

BATTLESPACE Updates

   +44 (0)77689 54766
   j.nettlefold@battle-technology.com

  • Home
  • Features
  • News Updates
  • Company Directory
  • About
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • Media Pack 2021

Defence Deserves Better Than This! By Howard Wheeldon, FRAeS, Wheeldon Strategic Advisory Ltd.

October 26, 2020 by Julian Nettlefold

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No sooner, it seems, had Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace warned in an address to the two day long ‘Atlantic Futures Forum’ on board HMS Queen Elizabeth in Portsmouth last week that “Our adversaries would not wait for the UK to sure up its economy” and that “defence cannot be paused in the face of financial uncertainty” than the Treasury in its infinite wisdom announces that the ‘Comprehensive Spending Review’ (CSR) will now be based on a one year settlement rather than three.  

For the MOD the Treasury decision effectively means that despite all the promises made that the ‘Integrated Review of Security, Defence and Foreign Policy’ process would be based on long term strategic thinking in relation to our future requirements, for yet another year the MOD will again be restricted to a single year budget settlement with its hands tied behind its back.

This decision makes a mockery of the ‘Integrated Review’ process, one that unless the Treasury changes its mind and provides a necessary guarantee of a three-year settlement, will even if it is published in November be cast aside as being unfunded. Arguably, in terms of timing at least, this is the Treasury taking back full control of something [Integrated Review] that it may have felt it was losing control. 

While the single year CSR settlement for defence would not rule out a handful of Treasury approved MOD procurement decisions that were considered as being crucial being made, failure to provide an effective three-year settlement will send a dangerous message to our would-be adversaries that the UK is no longer prepared to prioritise defence requirement and to ensure that it has sufficient capability and capacity to meet the increased level of threats.

This is no way to treat UK defence, no way to treat military personnel and no way to treat the UK defence industrial base. Unless a better funding outcome emerges for defence, just as the Drayson Defence Industrial Strategy of 2005 was killed off by Gordon Brown who refused to fund it, the Integrated Review may well be another seemingly well-intentioned document that gets buried.

While defence will always react to immediate requirements, sound defence policy can only be made possible by long term strategy, long term thinking, planning ahead in order to ensure that as a nation we are, when it comes to all the many facets of defence and security, fit for purpose. A single year settlement means that already long delayed procurement decisions will be all the more difficult to make. We know that future wars will be technology led but that does not mean that we should cast legacy equipment aside as being no longer required.   

While it is easy to regard the CSR one-year settlement as yet another extraordinary error of judgment another way of looking at it would be to say suggest this is the Treasury taking back full control. Another would be to suggest that despite suggestions that the Treasury decision has sparked an internal row between Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, is a useful stunt that draws the attention away from the very negative realities of such a decision being made. I hope that is not the case. 

The official line from No 10 is that the government is considering the implications of a one-year spending review settlement and that an update will be provided in due course. And shortly after the Treasury announcement Boris Johnson was reported to be still demanding a three-year guarantee for defence spending in order that the commitment made to raise the annual defence budget by 0.5% above inflation continues.

Without such a commitment from the Treasury any attempt by the MOD to publish long-term strategic planning intentions within the already delayed ‘Integrated Security, Defence and Foreign Policy Review’ will be rubbished by many as being unfunded. 

No-one should be under any illusion that the Treasury decision to force through another single year settlement for defence is extremely damaging and that until we finally know what Integrated Review process is recommending defence will remain moribund.

There is no good news in any of this and even small scale reassurance provided by the chair of the House of Commons Defence Select Committee, Tobias Ellwood that he had subsequently received confirmation from the prime minister that “there would be no delay” in integrated review publication cuts no ice with me.

The Treasury is always in charge of defence spending agreements along with those of all government departments. While there have been howls of anguish from the Secretary of State for Defence there has, not surprisingly in this silenced age, been no comments from any of the three service chiefs and as far as I can see, nothing from the Chief of the Defence Staff, General Sir Nick Carter.   

Hopefully, by the time you read this, the Integrated Review will have been published but don’t bank on it. Due for publication originally in September but delayed due to COVID-19, awaiting publication it would not be remiss to suggest that defence has been moribund for much of the past year. That in itself has been very damaging and any further delay can only make a bad situation worse!

CHW (London – 26th October 2020)

Howard Wheeldon FRAeS 

Wheeldon Strategic Advisory Ltd,

M: +44 7710 779785

Skype: chwheeldon

hwheeldon@wheeldonstrategic.com

@AirSeaRescue  

Filed Under: News Update

Primary Sidebar

Advertisers

  • qioptiq.com
  • Exensor
  • TCI
  • Visit the Oxley website
  • Visit the Viasat website
  • Blighter
  • Arnold Defense logo
  • SPECTRA
  • InVeris
  • Britbots logo
  • Faun Trackway
  • Systematic
Hilux

Contact Us

BATTLESPACE Publications
Old Charlock
Abthorpe Road
Silverstone
Towcester NN12 8TW

+44 (0)77689 54766

j.nettlefold@battle-technology.com

BATTLESPACE Technologies

An international defence electronics news service providing our readers with up to date developments in the defence electronics industry.

Recent News

  • EXHIBITIONS AND CONFERENCES

    February 26, 2021
    Read more
  • VETERANS UPDATE

    February 26, 2021
    Read more
  • MANAGEMENT ON THE MOVE

    February 26, 2021
    Read more

Copyright BATTLESPACE Publications © 2002–2021.

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. If you continue to use the website, we'll assume you're ok with this.   Read More  Accept
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Non-necessary

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.

SAVE & ACCEPT