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Defence budget rise applies only to equipment, says Downing Street

This article is more than 11 years old
No 10 says other parts of defence budget will not be protected from cuts in 2015-16

The defence budget will not be protected from cuts in 2015-16, except for spending on equipment, Downing Street has said.

The prime minister's team rushed to clarify their position on Thursday after it was reported that Cameron was sticking by a commitment given in 2010 that defence spending would increase in real terms after 2015.

The remarks were attributed to a "senior source", but Downing Street confirmed later on Thursday that Cameron himself had been responsible for briefing journalists on his trip to Algiers.

"He was asked a question," a No 10 spokeswoman said. "The prime minister has said that he did not resile from what he said back in 2010."

No 10 said Cameron's commitment referred only to the years after 2016-17. This leaves the defence budget open to cuts in 2015-16. A spending review for that single year is already under way in the Treasury, and the chancellor, George Osborne, who is looking for cuts, cannot afford to see the defence budget off limits.

A pre-existing commitment that the defence equipment budget will rise by 1% in real terms from 2015-16 to 2019-20 still stands.

Cameron's spokesman said: "The prime minister does not resile from what he said in the House of Commons at the time of the strategic defence review. He said then that his strong view is that the defence budget will require real terms year-on-year growth in the years beyond 2015. As his remarks at the time made clear 'in the years beyond 2015' means starting in 2016. To suggest otherwise would be quite wrong.

"As to the spending review announced by the chancellor in the 2012 autumn statement, we are not going to pre-empt his decisions which will be announced in the first half of this year."

The statement leaves Osborne free to impose defence cuts in the spending review if he wants for 2015-16, the year after the election, so setting a lower baseline for any spending rises in the defence budget thereafter.

Philip Hammond, the defence secretary, also tried to clarify the position (video) in a round of radio and television interviews on Thursday.

He said he had been given a commitment that the equipment side of his budget – accounting for roughly half of MoD spending – would rise in real terms.

"I have a firm commitment that the equipment plan, which is a very large part of the defence budget, will rise in real terms by 1% a year between 2015 and 2020. That's a commitment that has previously been made and repeated since the chancellor delivered his autumn statement," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"But there is going to be a spending review for 2015-16 and I will go into that arguing the case for the resources that defence needs to deliver the plan that we have set out, Future Force 2020, and I am very confident that we will have a robust discussion about that."

Pressed as to whether overall defence spending would rise or not, Hammond said: "What I know is that I have a firm commitment on the equipment plan, which about roughly half the defence budget is covered by that. That will rise in real terms after 2015."

Asked whether staffing budgets could be cut, he said: "The rest of the budget will be subject to a discussion around the spending review the chancellor announced in the autumn statement. But I'm going into that spending review discussion on the basis that I expect the outputs that I have defined to be protected."

Kevan Jones, the shadow armed forces minister, said: "Our forces don't want jam tomorrow and P45s today. They will judge ministers on their record. More cuts may be made to fund the shaky equipment plan and claims to have balanced the budget are woefully hollow."

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