Why defence spending must rise to defeat bullies and tyrants like Putin as Ukraine crisis escalates – GP Taylor

How cost of living crisis is crippling Yorkshire families ahead of Spring Statement – Niall Cooper

Then it happened. On March 26, 1971, what I had been fearing came to pass. It was the day my bully had decided I was going to be beaten up. I didn’t want to fight. I was a pacifist. The gang of skinheads gathered around and the beating began. Something inside me snapped, a rage I had never experienced rose up within me and I fought back.

Three years of pain and anguish boiled over, as my mind was enveloped in a red mist. I grabbed him by the ears (he had no hair) and smashed his head against the side of a metal hut. To the shock of his mates, he dropped to the floor and I ran as fast as I could.

The next week at school came too quickly and I had to face him again. Strangely, he backed off. I was never bullied and was left alone. The skinheads kept out of my way. Life became normal. Within a year, my bully became a friend. Our conflict had changed us both.

It taught me one thing. Bullies have to be stood up to whether it be an individual, a gang or a country. They cannot be allowed to force us to live in fear.

For the last 70 years, Europe has lived in relative peace. In the 1990s the threat of nuclear war diminished and year on year spending on defence was scaled back. Yet, as recent events have shown, the threat to world peace is only a heartbeat away.

So, is it right that we spend less on defence?

The UK currently spends two per cent of GDP on defence each year, amounting to some £45bn in 2021. This has fallen substantially over time. In 
the mid-1950s, the UK spent almost eight per cent of GDP on defence, falling to four per cent in 1980 and three per cent in 1990.

The same sort of statistics go for our army. The numbers of trained soldiers have fallen year on year. Since 2000, according to data, our fighting force has dropped by 30,000. That is a staggering amount of deterrent to have lost. In times like these, do we even have enough troops to defend our country should it be needed?

Gone are the days when a career in the Army was seen as an option for many young people. In my class, at least five lads joined the military. With government cuts, there are no longer the vacancies and jobs there once was.

However, if Britain is to be seen as a player in Nato, we have to have the troops to put boots on the ground should they be needed. We cannot rely on America to bail us out of yet another war. In Ukraine, there is still the danger of a conflict between the West and Russia, a conflict that could easily spill over into neighbouring countries or even go nuclear.

Lessons have to be learnt from this and defence spending has to be increased. The only way to calm an aggressor is to let them know that you have the wherewithal to defend yourself and the confidence to do so. Money has to be spent on weapon development and the systems to deploy them. Britain cannot be left behind with outdated armaments.

International military politics is like a game of Top Trumps. An aggressor will look at the capabilities of the other country and assess its chances of winning before a conflict starts. It will take into account the numbers of troops, tanks, ships and aircraft and then make a decision. This is what Russia did before it invaded Ukraine.

President Vladimir Putin must be rubbing his hands with glee as he sees nation after nation across Europe cutting funding to their armed forces.

The age of decreasing spending on the defence of our country is now over. Unless there is a significant political change in Russia, the West can never be sure that peace in Europe will be maintained.

Our army, navy and air force has to be funded to a level where they are capable of meeting a foreign aggressor head on. Its size has to be increased by at least 20 per cent.

War should be avoided at all costs. Dialogue and understanding have to be pursued to the last. It is always better to make friends of our enemies. However, at the end of the day when all avenues have come to an end, sometimes we have to be prepared to give a bully a bloody nose – and the only way we can do that is if we have a well-funded military.

GP Taylor is a writer and broadcaster. He lives in East Yorkshire.

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