Armed Forces faces significant day-to-day budget cuts, according to Labour calculations

Published

3 years ago

November 22, 2022

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The military faces a cut of more than £2bn in its day-to-day budget in the year to March 2024 despite growing security threats, new calculations by Labour appear to show.

The potential drop in spending in real terms – when inflation is taken into account – was compared with the £33bn allocated to defence running costs – such as salaries, training and fuel – in the 12 months to March 2022, the opposition’s defence team said.

John Healey, the shadow defence secretary, said Rishi Sunak’s government had failed to commit to any new funding for defence in the autumn statement delivered last week.

“That means less money for forces pay, recruitment and training,” he told Sky News.

But a defence source signalled that Chancellor Jeremy Hunt had provided an assurance that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) would receive help to protect its budget from inflation – though the source did not offer a specific figure.

“The chancellor has committed to provide sufficient funding and exceptional budgetary flexibilities to meet defence’s external pressures in 2023-2024 so that core defence spending will be at least flat in real terms,” the defence source said.

“The chancellor and prime minister acknowledge defence spending will then need to rise and we will look at that in the Integrated Review refresh.”

The comments appear to indicate that the MoD is expecting to draw on reserves held by the Treasury to bolster its budget – otherwise it will shrink in real terms.

Using official figures provided by the House of Commons library, Labour studied a four-year settlement for defence, from 2021, agreed when Boris Johnson was prime minister as part of a sweeping Integrated Review of defence, security and foreign policy.

The data put the amount of the defence budget spent on resources – known as resource departmental expenditure limit (RDEL) – at £33.3bn in the year to March 2022, based on November inflation forecasts. This was signalled to drop to £32.1bn in the year to March 2023, fall again to £31.2bn in the year to March 2024 and once more to £31bn in the year to March 2025.

The Sunak government is reviewing Mr Johnson’s Integrated Review in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, had said this refresh would be completed by December. But, in his autumn statement, Mr Hunt indicated that it might not be until next year.

“The prime minister and I both recognise the need to increase defence spending. But before we make that commitment it is necessary to revise and update the Integrated Review,” the chancellor told MPs last Thursday.

“I have asked for that vital work to be completed ahead of the next budget and today confirm we will continue to maintain the defence budget at least 2% of GDP to be consistent with our NATO commitment.”

Mr Sunak has declined to offer any new target on defence spending.

By contrast, Liz Truss, his short-lived predecessor, pledged to lift defence spending to 3% of national income by the end of the decade.

World

British-Israeli soldier killed while fighting in Gaza, reports say

Published

4 hours ago

June 29, 2025

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British-Israeli soldier killed while fighting in Gaza, reports say

A British-Israeli soldier has been killed while fighting in Gaza, Israeli media reports said.

He was named locally as Sergeant Yisrael Natan Rosenfeld, 20, from the city of Ra’anana.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said it is “looking into reports that an IDF soldier who died in combat in Gaza is a British national”.

The IDF soldier, who served in the 601st Combat Engineering Battalion, was killed by an explosive device on Sunday, the Times of Israel reported.

The paper said Mr Rosenfeld moved to Israel from London with his family 11 years ago.

More than 860 Israeli soldiers have been killed since Israel’s war against Hamas began on 7 October 2023, more than 400 of them during the fighting in Gaza.

The war began when the militant group launched an attack on Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostage.

Israel’s offensive in Gaza has devastated the enclave and killed more than 56,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count, but says more than half of the dead are women and children.

It came as Donald Trump called for progress in ceasefire talks in the war between Israel and Hamas.

“MAKE THE DEAL IN GAZA. GET THE HOSTAGES BACK!!!” the US president wrote on social media on Sunday.

On Friday Mr Trump raised expectations by claiming there could be an agreement within the next week.

World

Pictures reveal inside of Bayesian sunken superyacht after it was resurfaced for full examination

Published

14 hours ago

June 29, 2025

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Pictures reveal inside of Bayesian sunken superyacht after it was resurfaced for full examination

The inside of the superyacht that sank off the coast of Sicily almost a year ago has been seen for the first time after it was resurfaced.

British billionaire Mike Lynch, 59, his daughter Hannah, 18, and five others died after the 56-metre (184ft) Bayesian sank off Porticello on 19 August 2024.

Images reveal what the inside of the British-flagged vessel looks like now – after it was resurfaced and placed in a manufactured steel cradle in Termini Imerese.

In one picture, a lounge area can be seen, complete with sofas and other furniture, while another shows the hatch down to the lower deck.

Now the boat is back on land, a balloon-like instrument will be used to lift its 72m (236ft) mast after it was cut off with a remote-controlled tool to rest on the seabed.

While salvage workers continue a “full sweep” of the ocean floor nearby, a full examination of the yacht will look at what could have been done to prevent the tragedy.

The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) will then publish a report into its investigation.

The family of the Bayesian chef Recaldo Thomas, who was among those who died, says “lessons need to be learned”.

In a statement through the Thomas family lawyers Keystone Law, they said they want the investigation to “establish the truth of what happened” and “bring those responsible to justice”.

Simon Graves, an MAIB investigator, said of the investigation previously: “When the wreck is brought ashore, we’ll be completing a full examination of the wreck and we’ll be finding out all of the elements that might have contributed to the safety of the vessel.”

Things like the vessel’s “escape routes” will be included in the final report, Mr Graves added.

“Once we get access to the vessel we’ll be able to tell a fuller picture of activities on board and the sequence of events.”

A UK inquest will look at the deaths of Mr Lynch, Miss Lynch, Morgan Stanley banker Jonathan Bloomer, 70, and his wife Judy, 71, who were all British nationals.

US lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda also died.

Fifteen people, including Mr Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares, were rescued.

World

Riot police clash with protesters calling for end to Serbian president’s rule

Published

20 hours ago

June 29, 2025

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Riot police clash with protesters calling for end to Serbian president's rule

Serbian riot police have clashed with anti-government protesters calling for snap elections and an end to the 12-year rule of President Aleksandar Vucic.

The protest by tens of thousands of demonstrators was held in Belgrade on Saturday after months of persistent demonstrations led by Serbia‘s university students that have rattled Mr Vucic’s grip on power.

The crowd chanted “We want elections!” as they filled the capital’s central Slavija Square and several streets around it.

Students gave speeches. One, who didn’t give her name, said: “Elections are a clear way out of the social crisis caused by the deeds of the government, which is undoubtedly against the interests of their own people.

“Today, on June 28 2025, we declare the current authorities illegitimate.”

Tensions were high before and during the gathering.

Riot police had been deployed around government buildings, parliament and nearby Pionirski Park, where hundreds of Mr Vucic’s loyalists from across the country have been camping for months.

As the protest ended in the evening, some demonstrators threw bottles, rocks and flares at the police who were preventing the crowd from approaching Pionirski Park and confronting Mr Vucic’s backers.

Skirmishes between riot officers and groups of protesters lasted for several hours, with police firing tear gas to disperse crowds in several locations across Belgrade’s city centre.

Police detained several dozen protesters, while six officers were reported injured in the clashes, Dragan Vasiljevic, the director of police, told a news conference late on Saturday.

Responding to the violence, President Vucic said in an Instagram post: “Serbia always wins in the end.”

University students have been a key force behind nationwide demonstrations that started after a renovated rail station canopy collapsed, killing 16 people in November last year.

Many blamed the concrete roof crash on government corruption and negligence in state infrastructure projects, leading to recurring protests.

President Vucic and his right-wing Serbian Progressive Party have repeatedly refused the demand for an early parliamentary vote and accused protesters of planning to spur violence on orders from abroad, which they have not specified.

A former extreme nationalist, Mr Vucic has become increasingly authoritarian since coming to power more than a decade ago. He formally says he wants Serbia to join the European Union, but critics say he has stifled democratic freedoms and strengthened ties with Russia and China.

While demonstrations have shrunk in recent weeks, the large showing for Saturday’s rally suggested that the resolve persists, despite relentless pressure and after nearly eight months of almost daily protests.