The United Kingdom Elections 2010

[Louis VI the Fat]

Louis, it may be true that defence spending has increased under Labour in real terms since they took power, but you have to look at it against the political background.

The Conservatives presided over defence cuts at the end of the Cold War because we had large amounts of obsolete equipment, the armed forces just didn't need all the equipment and manpower it had, so cuts made some sense (although there is an argument to be made they went too deep, especially considering what happened next).

Labour, on the other hand, has presided over at least one and eventually two concurrent high tempo military operations in theatres the other side of the world - of course it's logical defence spending has increased.

Naturally, one needs to take political background into consideration.

However, there is no Cold War at the moment either. Both the Tories and Labour in the past two decades made their defense policies in a post-1989 world. And in this new geo-political constallation, in the post-Cold War world, Labour increased the defense budget by a quarter, and the Conservatives decreased it by the same amount.

It is not a given that the UK should pursue a very active military foreign policy. It is a political choice, and this active defense policy has been Labour's choice, not the Tories'.

The problem is it hasn't increased enough!

A well-Italicised statement, for therein lies the rub indeed. Labour indeed has not accepted the full consequences of its very active foreign military policy. It is all fine and dandy to have 8500 troops in Afghanistan, plus Iraq, but it does come with a price tag one needs to be prepared to pay. These operations must be properly funded by a huge increase in spending. Or else either the success of the operations will be compromised and troops will suffer needless casualty, or the general defense budget will suffer.

This underfunding of British' military operations have given the Tories the chance to create the misconception that Labour decreases UK's military expenditure. That Labour is the party of defense budget cuts.

This is not true. The very reverse is true. Labour in the past decades has been the party that increases defense spending, and the Tories the one that drastically reduces it. And they will do so again.

a shrinking Defence budget (as both from %GDP and Defence inflation) during a period in which the forces have spent most of the last decade fighting two high-intensity foriegn wars. again, funny how your detailed analysis missed that one.

I am afraid this is incorrect.

British defense spending has risen enormously since 2000. Yes, indeed corrected for inflation. Labour in the past decade has overseen the most drastic UK defense spending increase in decades. The UK is third behind only the US and China in global defense spending.

Moreover, to fund the UK's two pricy high-intesity conflicts, the Treusury Reserve has provided an additional £9.5Bn on top of the Defence Budget to cover operational costs. Add in pensions and numerous other non-MoD costs, and it is clear that Labour, far from cutting on defense, has drastically increased the defense expenditure burden of the UK.