Spending review 2015: Prime Minister David Cameron commits another £12bn to defence equipment
Prime Minister David Cameron will commit to spending an additional £12bn on defence equipment over the next ten years when he reveals the government’s five-year national security strategy and strategic defence and security review today, saying that the world is “more dangerous and uncertain today” than when he first moved into Downing Street.
“This is vital at a time when the threats to our country are growing,” Cameron said in a foreward to the review. “From the rise of ISIL and greater instability in the Middle East, to the crisis in Ukraine, the threat of cyber attacks and the risk of pandemics, the world is more dangerous and uncertain today than five years ago.”
“This government has taken a clear decision to invest in our security and safeguard our prosperity,” Cameron added.
Cameron, who is set to present the defence spending review to MPs in the House of Commons later today after meeting one-on-one with French president Francois Hollande in Paris this morning, will announce that a total £178bn will be invested in Britain’s defence programmes over the course of the next decade, with two new 5,000-strong so-called “strike brigades” trained to deploy quickly in crises, nine new maritime patrol aircraft and two new squadrons of Typhoon combat jets.
“We cannot choose between conventional defences against state-based threats and the need to counter threats that do not recognise national borders,” Cameron said, adding, “Today we face both and we must respond to both. So over the course of this parliament our priorities are to deter state-based threats, tackle terrorism, remain a world leader in cyber security and ensure we have the capability to respond rapidly to crises as they emerge.”
The defence spending review comes ahead of Wednesday’s comprehensive spending review, in which the government will lay out its overall spending plans for the next five years.