US Defence Secretary Joins Chorus Against ‘Dangerous’ Cameron Defence Cuts

US Defence Secretary, Ashton Carter, has added his voice to the chorus against defence cuts that have already been branded as dangerous by a senior Tory backbencher. As reported on Breitbart London yesterday Julian Lewis MP said that David Cameron’s defence policy had left certain elements of British military forces “if not completely broken… certainly enfeebled.”

Mr Lewis made the comments as part of his pitch to become the chairman of the powerful Defence Select Committee in the House of Commons. He has long been a supporter of the British military but is nonetheless consider a knowledge on the subject and has served on the select committee for a number of years.

Ashton Carter said he was “hugely concerning for the future of the ‘special relationship’” because of the state of the British military. He went on to express his “great anxiety” at news of yet more Tory defence cuts in the new parliament.

Mike Hookem from UKIP also made his party’s position clear saying: “Time and again before the election, UKIP warned that the Conservatives were going to make a further attack on defence spending if they won power. This was obvious from their sheer lack of commitment to meet the NATO spending target of 2% of GDP on defence.

“The simple fact is that Britain’s armed forces are already starved of much needed resources and further cuts would seriously hamper the UK’s ability to respond to the constantly evolving world security situation. More cuts would also seriously harm the vital humanitarian work that Britain’s armed forces do around the globe.

“The American’s are obviously keeping a close eye on the situation, as Ashton Carter’s intervention is unprecedented. It proves that David Cameron’s lack of commitment to our defence is causing concern among our key allies and is damaging our ‘special relationship’ with the US.

“If things continue like this, the UK will have an army in name only, and we will be forced to go cap in hand to the EU to meet our basic defence requirements. However, I suspect it was always the Tories intention to run our armed forces down in preparation for entering into the EU Army being pushed for by Germany and the EU President, Jean Claude Junker.”

There have been repeated defence cuts since the Conservatives came to power in 2010. The party has committed to ring fencing spending in particular areas such as the NHS. This has left other departments squeezed, this coupled with a renewed threat from Russia has caused the current crisis.

So far the Conservatives remain committed to further cuts, although the party is still pushing forward with the replacement of the Trident Nuclear Defence system. There had been fears before the election that Labour might decommission it.