Britain Spends Too Little On Its Forces, Says Poll

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 8-23-2004 | Michael Smith/Andrew Sparrow

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Britain spends too little on its forces, says poll

By Michael Smith and Andrew Sparrow
(Filed: 23/08/2004)

The majority of people believes that the Government is spending too little on defence and that the Armed Forces are overstretched and under-equipped, says an opinion poll conducted for the Telegraph.

Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, is widely blamed for the state of the forces, with only 14 per cent of those polled believing that he is doing a good job. Only 18 per cent believe that Labour can be trusted to support the forces.

Half of those questioned in the YouGov poll opposed moves to amalgamate famous-name regiments such as the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and the Black Watch into larger units.

The poll follows last month's defence cuts, in which 22,000 service jobs were axed.

The Royal Navy is to lose a dozen major ships. The RAF is to lose four front-line squadrons and more than 100 aircraft and the Army is to lose four battalions and 100 tanks. More cuts are expected to follow.

Mr Hoon has ordered senior officers and civil servants to avoid describing the widespread loss of men and equipment as defence cuts, insisting that they were "a rebalancing" that will improve military capabilities.

The poll found that 86 per cent of those questioned believe that the defence chiefs should be criticising the cuts. The vast majority did not believe they should resign in protest but 55 per cent felt they should be openly critical.

Mr Hoon has warned the defence chiefs that anyone taking such action will be forced into early retirement.

Asked specifically whether they believe that British or American troops were performing better in Iraq, the poll revealed that only three per cent backed the Americans with 77 per cent backing the British forces.

Nicholas Soames, the shadow defence secretary, said: "I welcome the findings of this poll and I'm not surprised by the results. For the first time in many years the public realise that military issues are very important."

Mr Soames said he agreed that too little was spent on defence and that the forces were suffering from overstretch.

But he was surprised that Mr Hoon's approval rating was 14 per cent. He said: "I would have thought it would be about two per cent. It certainly would not be any higher than that within the Armed Forces."

Bruce George, the Labour MP who chairs the Commons defence committee, said he agreed that military funding was too low.

He said: "The Government cannot expect the Armed Forces to respond effectively to its demands if the level of defence expenditure is not rising adequately.

"Most people who read the newspapers would agree that our forces are overstretched and under-funded."

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[bubman]

how do you paste this on fr??