Libya campaign prompts calls for review of defence budget squeeze | Politics | The Guardian

 

• Monday 21 March 2011 22.03 GMT

• Article history

 

An RAF Typhoon is prepared in Italy to enforce the no-fly zone over Libya. Analysts say Britain should review defence cuts at such a time. Photograph: Neil Chapman/AP

Britain's military operations in Libya have already led to calls for a review of the squeeze on the defence budget – and the pressure is likely to grow the longer the campaign lasts.

In a fortnight, the British army and Royal Navy will set out plans for voluntary redundancy schemes; the Royal Air Force set out its proposals earlier this month. The services need to cut at least 11,000 posts; compulsory redundancies are almost certain.

The Treasury is also negotiating with the Ministry of Defence about a £1bn overspend in the defence budget, and what extra services and capabilities might have to be scrapped to balance the books.

Unless the Treasury relents – or offers to give the ministry a loan – service chiefs believe that thousands more jobs might have to go, and equipment either sold off or decommissioned.

"We might see more ships tied up to docks permanently, or more aircraft grounded for ever," one official said.

The details of fresh cuts and the redundancy schemes could well come out as British service personnel continue to fight in Afghanistan, and play a leading role in operations in Libya – an appalling juxtaposition highlighted by Jim Murphy, the shadow defence secretary.

If that wasn't awkward enough, some of the British "assets" deployed in the Mediterranean – the frigate HMS Cumberland and two Nimrod surveillance aircraft – were on their way to the scrapheap before being spared to help the coalition effort.

The entire Tornado fleet was also likely to be decommissioned – but defence analysts say, because of this crisis, it would be much more difficult to axe them now.

The Treasury said yesterday that the cost of the Libyan campaign would initially be born by the MoD, but that defence chiefs could "claim back" the money from the government's special reserves.

Malcolm Chalmers, a leading defence economist with the Royal United Services Institute, said the cost of Britain's part in the military operation against Libya is unlikely to be more than £200m, depending how long it continues.

"The biggest cost – the use of air assets – will further reduce the MoD's [ability] for balancing the books in 2011-12," he said.

The Treasury said yesterday it was "sympathetic" to the plight of the MoD, and was still in talks about how to reduce costs. But it reiterated that a budget settlement had been agreed by all departments, and that departments had to stick to the agreements.