George Osborne denies UK defence spending will fall below 2% of GDP
|
Version 0 of 1. George Osborne has refused to commit to an increase in defence spending after the general election and challenged claims that next year it will fall below 2% of GDP, the guideline figure agreed at the Nato summit on Friday. The independent thinktank Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) has claimed spending will fall to 1.8%, but on Sunday Osborne said he did not accept that assessment, saying: "I think we need to continue to meet the 2% commitment," adding that as chancellor he will always put Britain's security needs first. Osborne was speaking after promising he will do whatever it takes to defeat Islamic State (Isis). He said Britain "must absolutely defeat the Islamic State terrorist organisation because it is a direct threat to the people of Britain, as well as a threat to stability in the Middle East". US politicians and diplomats are fanning out across the Middle East to try to expand the core coalition established at the Nato summit willing to use force to drive Isis from Iraq and probably later from Syria. UN security council support for action against Isis is likely to be sought later in September. The UN has already condemned Isis and has committed to stopping the flow of cash to the organisation. Osborne, speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, said: "It does not look like you can deal with people that are so barbaric that they rape women, chop off the heads of the people they capture. They want to establish a so-called Islamic caliphate, they want to exclude Christians and other groups. "If you cannot deal with a threat like that you have to destroy it. "This is very different from 10 years ago with the Iraq war, which was a western invasion. This is an operation by the Iraqi government – which by the way needs to be more representative - and an operation from people in the Middle East to destroy this threat, which we will assist in any way that we can." He said Britain is not yet committing to air strikes, saying the government still needed to work out what it can do to best assist Iraq. He also said parliament will be consulted prior to the government committing to a long-term campaign against Isis, so long as there was not an emergency need to strike. Parliament is in recess until the middle of October due to the party conference season, but could be recalled if necessary. He said: "If there needs to be an immediate emergency operation because there is an immediate emergency crisis on the ground – a humanitarian crisis – and it is not possible to go to parliament then of course the government reserves the right to take action but any longer campaign, anything that requires a sustained campaign, then of course we would go to parliament and indeed we would go to parliament after taking action if it needed to be done in a matter of hours." |