The United Kingdom, it appears, has trimmed its defence budget, UK Defence Journal reports.
Despite the ongoing war in Europe and rising global tensions, the UK’s financial blueprint for the upcoming year has conspicuously left out additional funding for its armed forces in order to impact concerns like inflation.
This decision has sparked concerns over the potential weakening of the nation’s military capabilities and its stance alongside allies.
The official budget documents disclosed on Wednesday show that defence spending in the UK is expected to witness a decrease of £2.5 billion in the financial year ending March 2025 compared to the prior 12 months. This development is alarming, especially as the Defence Secretary has issued stark warnings that the UK is navigating a “pre-war world”, with both adversaries and allies boosting their defence expenditures. Nevertheless, the Treasury’s latest budget seems to neglect the urgent necessity for enhanced military funding.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has attempted to mitigate concerns by stating that the apparent reduction does not reflect additional funding allocated last autumn, as well as ongoing support to Ukraine.
Chalmers stated, “One of the striking things in a comparative perspective is that the UK is just about the only major European country which is not increasing its defence budget in real terms, and one of the few European countries which is also not increasing its military assistance to Ukraine much in real terms. But the fact is that now, after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, many European countries are increasing their defence budgets rapidly, including Germany, the Scandinavian countries, the exposed eastern countries and quite a number of others as well.”
A MoD spokesperson has contended that the defence budget is projected to grow by 0.9% in the year ending March 2025, yet critics maintain that the plans effectively amount to a cut in essential defence spending. This contention is further complicated by ambiguities in the budget documents, including unclear accountancy adjustments and the contentious inclusion of Ukraine aid within the UK’s defence budget figures.
The breakdown by department of government spending indicates a reduction in the Ministry of Defence’s day-to-day running costs and other resource-related expenditures (Resource Departmental Expenditure Limit, or RDEL) from £35 billion this financial year to £32.8 billion for the year to March 2025. Similarly, capital expenditure (Capital Departmental Expenditure Limit, or CDEL) is forecasted to diminish from £19.2 billion to £18.9 billion over the same period.
Despite these adjustments, which include £2.5 billion in new assistance to Ukraine as well as other funding announced in the Autumn Statement, the core MoD budget evidently faces a reduction.
This is especially contentious amid the current conflict in Europe, with critics arguing that it reflects a misjudgement in resource allocation. While the UK’s aid to Ukraine is welcomed by most in defence, the decrease in the MoD’s RDEL and CDEL highlights a troubling direction. Less cash is available to already underfunded forces.
This is in stark contrast to many of the UK’s NATO allies, who are actively increasing their defence budgets.
