EXCLUSIVE: Defence experts and MPs tell Express.co.uk that Labour’s slashing of the defence budget, as Russia’s war with Ukraine gets even hotter, is “totally wrong” and a “self-inflicted wound”.
Vladimir Putin sits in front of Russian flag (Image: Getty)
Labour’s plan to axe defence spending by £500m as the war in Europe rages on is “crazy”, according to one of Britain’s leading security experts and a group of cross-party politicians.
Defence Secretary John Healey announced yesterday that the new Labour Government was taking “common sense decisions” by slashing spending on Britain’s armed forces, blaming “the state of the finances” inherited from the Tories. Today, reports emerged that Ukraine had used British Storm Shadow long-range missiles on Russian targets for the first time. However, the Defence Secretary refused to confirm in the Commons whether or not Kyiv had fired them.
The reduced budget will see six military projects scrapped, including the British Army’s Watchkeeper drone programme, the Royal Navy’s Landing Platform Docks, HMS Albion, HMS Bulwark, and HMS Northumberland. The RFA Wave Knight and RFA Wave Ruler tankers will also be thrown on the scrapheap, along with 14 RAF Chinook and 17 Puma helicopters.
Military commentator and chemical weapons expert Hamish de Bretton-Gordon told Express.co.uk the decision and its timing is “f****** bonkers”.
John Healey has been slammed for a ‘bonkers’ cutting of the Defence budget. (Image: Getty)
“We’re as close as we’ve been to war with Russia since the Second World War [and] we announce a half billion cut in our conventional defence. It was the lack of conventional defence that encouraged Putin to invade Ukraine
“When he looked west on February 24 2022, he didn’t see a conventional defence. So I think number one is that [cutting defence] is crazy.
“When Putin is thinking about whether to press the nuclear button, he suddenly sees Britain sinking all its ships and crashing all its helicopters – I mean, it is unbelievable”, the former British Army officer told this website.
He added that the timing of the decision gave the Kremlin the all-clear to “crack on” and win the war in Ukraine.
Mr de Bretton-Gordon added that failure to prevent a Russian victory may mean British soldiers are drawn into fighting soon. This echos the thoughts of ex-Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, who in February predicted the UK would be at war by at least 2030.
“If Russia prevails, the young men and women of this country will be fighting in Europe in the next 12 months or so,” Mr de Bretton-Gordon said. “So we should be doing absolutely everything in our power to prevent that happening, and number one is having a credible conventional defence. It seems like a self-inflicted wound to me.”
The UK is scrapping 14 Chinook helicopters (Image: Getty)
The military expert’s thoughts were shared by former Tory MPs and the deputy leader of Reform, Richard Tice.
Mr Tice told the Express that the timing of the move was “very unwise”. The MP for Boston and Skegness added that the UK should be “aiming to show strength against Russia
Likewise, former shadow business secretary and MP for Wokingham Sir John Redwood labelled John Healey’s decision “totally wrong”.
“We need to maximise our capabilities so that they are a proper deterrent… I can’t believe that they would do this at the same time when they are probably allowing our weapons to be used by Ukraine in a new way.”
Tobias Ellwood, the ex-MP for Bournemouth East, a former Lt Col, and the former head of the UK Defence Select Committee, was cooler in his criticism, noting that some of the hardware being scrapped was “faulty” and “ancient.”
“The challenge is getting the replacements in,” he said. “For a couple of decades, we’ve been too slow in upgrading, and now that the storms of war are approaching again, [we] must expedite getting the replacements to the front line.
“The one decision I do believe needs reviewing is writing off our landing platforms [HMS Bulwark and HMS Albion]. They just might prove useful sooner than we think.”
