TREASURY AND MOD AT ODDS OVER DEFENCE FOOTPRINT

TREASURY AND MOD AT ODDS OVER DEFENCE FOOTPRINT

CHIEF SECRETARY REVEALS RIFT ON COMMUNITY IMPACT OF CUTS

A public rift between the Treasury and Ministry of Defence has emerged
over the extent to which defence chiefs must take into account the
effect cuts under the strategic defence and security review will have
on local communities.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander, who is charged with
slashing public spending to reduce the deficit, has said the MoD must
take into account the effect of decisions on local economies, however,
his claim comes just a week after the Armed Forces Minister refused to
continue publishing a regional breakdown of defence statistics and
claimed that the MoD would not consider local economic factors, only
defence needs. See references in notes.

The Treasury and MoD are already at loggerheads over who will pay for
Trident renewal – with the Treasury insisting the bulk of the capital
expenditure for Trident should come from the MoD core budget – a move
that would have serious implications for defence spending in
conventional areas.

SNP Westminster leader and Defence spokesperson Angus Robertson MP
welcomed the Treasury intervention which vindicated his long-standing
calls for the continued compilation of regional defence statistics.

Mr Robertson said:

“This extraordinary public rift between the Treasury and MoD totally
vindicates the calls the SNP have been making for the continued
publication of regional defence spending statistics.

“The MoD says local considerations don’t count, but the Treasury say
local economic factors must be considered. If Danny Alexander is being
honest, then this is the best news we have had from the Treasury for
years.

“We can only continue to track the impact of government decisions in
Scotland and elsewhere if the MoD answer the questions. The stakes
could not be higher and the government must make a fair and balanced
defence footprint across the UK a priority.

“To date, Scotland has been massively short-changed on its fair share
of defence spending and all the indications are that the SDR could
have further catastrophic consequences for the defence footprint in
Scotland. The MoD’s own figures show that £5.6bn less has been spent
on defence in Scotland than has been contributed by taxpayers, and
10,000 defence jobs have been lost in Scotland since the last
strategic review.

“If the strategic review fails to address the mammoth cutbacks in
defence spending that we have seen over the last decade, then the
coalition government risks even more damaging decline for the defence
footprint in Scotland and causing irreparable damage to local
communities across the country.”