The lack of money to increase the defense budget was acknowledged by the British government, Sky News reports on February 5, citing defense sector sources.
It should be noted that representatives of the military department previously called on the British government to increase the defense budget by at least 3 billion pounds (about 255.28 billion rubles at current exchange rates) per year. The military also sees a need to review the plan to further reduce the army and ease peacetime purchasing rules, which prevent rapid arms purchases.
The same defense sources reported that UK Treasury Secretary Jeremy Hunt does not consider it possible to increase real military spending in the context of high inflation in the state. A source said that the finance minister and the foreign minister have a tough stance: they recognize the security threats posed by events in Ukraine, but “They say there is no more money”.
Inflation is observed to reduce the value in real terms of an additional 16 billion pounds (1361.87 billion rubles), which were allocated to the Ministry of Defense in 2020 for four years. This increase in military spending was the largest increase since the Cold War.
The UK Army is noted to be facing shortcomings such as a lack of artillery, air defense systems, long-range missiles and ammunition stocks. Thus, in the present state of affairs, the British Army would run out of ammunition in a few days if it had to fight.
The problems are exacerbated by the fact that the UK is transferring weapons to the Ukrainian army. “If you don’t replace what you give away, then the army won’t be able to fight. He may not be able to fight now, even on a very small scale, at least he won’t be able to for more than a few days.”said the source.
Source: Rossa Primavera
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