Boss’s warning over ‘hasty’ defence cuts

Robin Fox, the managing director of NDI (Northern Defence Industries), who has served in the Gulf as a member of the Territorial Army, claimed that decisions over cuts in defence spending were made too quickly by the coalition Government last year.

He also called for clearer guidance from the coalition Government about which defence projects were going to sur- vive.

Mr Fox made the comments in a speech to the NDI conference at the Royal Armouries in Leeds, which was attended by dozens of companies with links to the defence sector.

Mr Fox said: “The Strategic Defence and Security Review published, some might say with unseemly haste, last October, has resulted in the loss of some significant capabilities.

“The Harriers, Ark Royal and the Nimrods, thousands of service personnel are gone or are to go, but, on the other hand the new carriers are going forward and there will be some extra investment in cyber security and a certain amount also going towards research and development.

“While we must understand the economic realities of our current position and acknowledge that reducing the national deficit is a challenge that we do need to face now, I believe that the choices made on defence spending, in particular, were made too quickly and...were too Treasury driven.

“Ultimately this sends out all the wrong signals.

“With insufficient force and deterrents we are potentially exposing our country to greater external threats in the future.

“You do have to question the sanity of what we are doing, when you consider that the UK continues to give around £280m in aid to India – a country expected to keep on growing their economy in 2011, with a defence budget of just over £20bn and which has purportedly become the world’s biggest importer of arms.

“And that’s before you even mention they have a space programme.

“Are the right choices being made where we do and do not spend?

“It seems that since the Second World War, Governments of all persuasions have been happier to simply manage the decline, as we slowly wind down our country’s industrial capability and our position in the world, instead of actively working to reinvigorate it.”

Peter Luff, the Minister for Defence Equipment, Support & Technology, who also spoke at the conference, said the Government had inherited a national debt which was increasing at the rate of £3bn a week.

He added: “Before the SDSR there was also a £38bn ‘black hole’ in the Defence programme over 10 years – a figure which is larger than the entire annual defence budget.

“That’s why we’ve had to make some tough decisions in the Defence Programme...the plain fact is that there simply isn’t the money there was before.

“Our recent Strategic Defence and Security Review committed us to having Armed Forces which remain among the very top rank of military powers, supported by the fourth largest defence budget in the world, and which can adapt and respond to new world realities.

“Britain remains a global player, and we will continue to protect our national security wherever it is threatened.”

Mr Luff said that the Government would take measures to help smaller businesses get their hands on defence contracts.

Plea to support aerospace sector

Robin Fox, the managing director of NDI, made an impassioned plea for further investment in the aerospace sector during the company’s annual conference, which was held at the Royal Armouries in Leeds.

He said: “The UK is well positioned to take advantage of the rapidly growing, global civil aerospace demand in countries like China and Brazil, and a number of Middle Eastern states.

“I have one major concern for the aerospace industry in the UK and that is not the good times we are witnessing today; but what will happen in the future?

“Where is the commitment to the investment required for technology demonstrators for future products?

“If we don’t invest and have both Government and the financial markets’ support, other countries will overtake us.”