Geoff Hoon says PM and Treasury must urgently increase defence spending
Former Labour Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon has called on the Prime Minister and the Treasury to “fall in” and increase defence spending.
Speaking on GB News Geoff Hoon said: “It is remarkable for Lord Robertson to be making a statement of this kind. I’ve known George for most of my political lifetime, and he is a Labour Party loyalist to his fingertips.
“So for him to make a speech of this kind does indicate that something has gone seriously wrong following his leadership of the Strategic Defence Review last year.
“My suspicion is that something has gone wrong inside the Treasury. It’s not unusual for defence ministers and former defence ministers to complain about the Treasury. I suspect that’s really his target.
“Procuring equipment and indeed retraining some of the armed forces is always a longer period than this year or next year. Nevertheless, we have to start somewhere and it’s quite clear that, given the international situation, we have to start now. Indeed we should have started yesterday.
“So I recognise the difficulties of the timescale, nevertheless we have to get on with this, and it’s incumbent upon the Prime Minister and ultimately the Treasury to fall in, in order to get this right, to protect our country.
“There are occasions on which it is necessary to twist the arm of the Treasury, and doing so in this very public way is perhaps a way to force the Treasury to recognise that defence spending in the present international situation must be a priority.
“I think the reason for those changes [to defence expenditure] was to bring us into line with other NATO countries so that there was a consistent approach across NATO countries, in order that we’re all calculating defence spending on the same basis.
“For many years, actually, we excluded aspects of defence spending that other countries counted. So in a sense, we were losing out in that debate. Now I think there is a greater consistency, and that’s how we ought to proceed.”
