Defence of the realm cannot be rushed

12 April 2012

The last strategic defence review was in 1998; it took a year to complete. This time around, the defence review is being conducted in a few months, to be ready in time for the Government's spending review in October.

This timescale is controversial and it has now attracted criticism from the Commons Defence Select Committee. Its chairman, the Tory James Arbuthnot, has said that the process is too quick, is money-driven, fails to engage in public consultation and is "potentially detrimental to the defence of the country". These are stinging charges, even delivered in Mr Arbuthnot's measured tones.

Of course, every department of state is going through agonies over the spending review, which will decide just where cuts will fall and how deep. And because of the electorally driven decision to exempt the NHS — the biggest spending department — and overseas aid from cuts, they will fall disproportionately elsewhere. Defence may, in fact, fare less badly than other departments, with cuts in the region of 10-20 per cent likely.

But this is still a sizeable reduction, raising important strategic questions about Britain's role in the world. Cramming that debate into a timeframe dictated by deficit reduction is, to say the least, difficult. It has not been made any easier by the decision to exempt Trident from the present review; its merits will be decided separately. Yet Trident is now to be paid for out of the general defence budget rather than from a ring-fenced fund, which colours the way other forces view the issue; it seems odd to deal with it separately.

Ministers have been quick to assure us that the review will not put military personnel in Afghanistan at risk. And the Defence Secretary, Liam Fox, says the review is being driven by strategic rather than financial considerations. Yet the Commons Defence Committee has begged to differ. Decisions taken now affect the way this country can conduct itself in years to come; it is worrying that they are being taken in short order to please the Treasury.

Police cuts on the way

The Home Secretary, Theresa May, will not have won friends in the police by telling the Police Superintendents' Association that forces must do with fewer police, and achieve more with them. "The effectiveness of a police force depends not primarily on the absolute number of police officers but on the way those officers are used," she says.

This gets us to the heart of the cuts debate: the extent to which greater public spending translates into better public services, or lower spending into worse ones. Mrs May plainly believes that it is possible to cut crime with fewer police, especially if the cuts are made in backroom services and head offices. Others may feel that areas such as police overtime could be cut too.

Police numbers are actually at record high levels: 144,000 nationally. The president of the Association, Derek Barnett, has suggested that the police will be in greater demand if industrial unrest becomes violent. But Mrs May does have a point — that public services are not necessarily good in proportion to their funding.

What matters is how they spend it. In the case of the police, cuts must come, but frontline police should be the last to go.

Olympic army

The call from Olympic champion Amy Williams for more Olympic volunteers comes as the 2012 Games loom ever larger. The Games will rely on an army of ordinary Londoners to greet visitors and make sure the whole operation runs smoothly. We should all do our bit.

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