Minister rejects claim armed forces will be overstretched

Nick Harvey says he does not accept findings of Commons defence select committee report, which warns cuts will affect military’s ‘capability to undertake all that is being asked of them’ The armed forces minister, Nick Harvey, has rejected claims the British military is “overstretched” following a damning report by MPs that calls into question the government’s defence strategy and spending plans. The report, by the Commons defence select committee, said the armed forces had been so hard hit by spending cuts announced in last year’s strategic defence and security review (SDSR) that they might not be able to do all that is asked of them after 2015. It also criticised the government’s decision to enter into a military campaign in Libya while at the same time cutting the budget. In an interview with Sky News, Harvey admitted the armed forces would be faced with some “capability gaps” over the next decade. But, speaking later on BBC Radio 4′s Today programme, he said: “I don’t accept that we’re overstretched. This is within the defence planning assumptions; this is within the capabilities that we have at our disposal, but I do readily acknowledge that we’re working people and kit very hard.” Participating in Nato’s Libya operation, he added, was “well within the range of the things” possible. “We don’t know what … will come up but we had the capacity to handle both long-scale enduring operations and some of these ad-hoc ones that come along, and Libya is an ad-hoc one that has come along. “Now, of course, with less manpower and fewer assets than we had previously, we’re working both people and assets harder but this is well within the range of capabilities that we have, and I don’t accept that this is in some way untenable or unsustainable,” he added. James Arbuthnot, the Tory MP who chaired the committee, accused the minister of “exaggerating” the military’s current capacities. “We live in an increasingly unstable world, [with] unrest and turmoil going on in Arab countries at the moment, and the problem with the SDSR is that it has left us with virtually no contingency whatsoever so we are running at the very extremes of what our defences can provide and when he said ‘it’s well within’ the range of the capabilities we have I think he’s exaggerating our powers in the Ministry of Defence.” In its report, the cross-party group of MPs questions claims by ministers that cuts will have no effect on what the military can do. “We are not convinced, given the financial climate and the drawdown of capabilities arising form the SDSR that from 2015 the armed forces will maintain the capability to undertake all that is being asked of them,” warns the report. It also warned that British influence in the world could be diminished by the cutting of resources. Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Colonel Stuart Tootal said the criticisms raised by the select committee were “hardly surprising”. “We have a strategic security and defence review which has been driven by costs rather than strategy. There is a real risk – and it is already happening now – that there is a mismatch between resources that the armed forces have now, will have after 2015 and the commitments and tasks they are going to have to meet, and there are going to be gaps, quite serious capability gaps.” Acknowledging the financial constraints the government is facing, Arbuthnot said he would like to see an increase in resources nonetheless. Asked what he thought the government should do if it cannot raise the defence budget, he said: “Well, if we can’t scale up our resources then we have to scale down our commitments.” Harvey said he agreed that a real-terms increase in the post-2015 defence budget was needed. He added that defence secretary Liam Fox’s recent announcement that the defence equipment budget would be increased every year between 2015 and 2021 by 1% was already allowing the MoD to place orders for more equipment, including Chinook helicopters and surveillance aircraft. Defence policy Military Lizzy Davies guardian.co.uk

Posted by on August 3, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.