Brown admits defence spending slip

Mar 17 2010

Gordon Brown is to clarify his evidence to the Iraq Inquiry after conceding that the defence budget has not risen in real terms every year under Labour, he told MPs.

The Prime Minister told Sir John Chilcot's panel when he appeared before it earlier this month that the defence budget was "rising in real terms every year".

But later House of Commons figures showed this was not the case.

Asked at question time whether he would correct the record, Mr Brown said: "Yes. I am already writing to Sir John Chilcot about this issue.

"Because of operational fluctuations in the way the money is spent, expenditure has risen in cash terms every year, in real terms it is 12% higher, but I do accept that in one or two years defence expenditure did not rise in real terms."

Mr Brown made the assertion to the inquiry as he rejected accusations that as chancellor he starved the military of the funds it needed.

"The Iraqi expenditure was being met, but at the same time the defence budget was rising in real terms every year," he told the panel.

Repeating his claim, he told them: "The spending review of 2004 gave the Ministry of Defence a rising level of real spending, moving from 1.2% to 1.4% in real terms each year."

The Prime Minister's evidence sparked condemnation from some senior military figures. The head of the armed forces at the time of the 2003 invasion accused him of being "disingenuous" in saying that he provided military chiefs with everything they asked for.

Opposition leader David Cameron told him: "In three years of asking the Prime Minister questions, I do not think I have ever heard him make a correction or a retraction. The fact is, if you look at defence spending or defence budget cuts, there have been years with real-terms cuts and at last the Prime Minister has admitted it."