But...
Has anyone actually looked at defence in terms of national expenditure?
In terms of National Expenditure it doesn't even warrent it's own segment!
The breakdown:
Total Spending by Function
Values in £ billion
2008 2009 2010 2011
Total Spending 576 631 661 681
Pensions 100 110 117 123
Health Care 204 221 239 244
Education 76 80 86 84
Defence 38 42 44 46
Welfare 88 94 105 109
For all the debate, Defence is nothing on the national budget in comparison to social expenditure.
I honestly am in shock that a government - even a coalition government that has to appease yogurt weavers- would consider such a miniscule section of national cost to be worthy of a 10% minimum cut when health can continue spending its merry way.
Note: if they get rid of the desk pilots and civil servants rather than making sure troops are under-equipped and die unnecessarily then the cut will be fine - unfortunately as I have posted in the past, the last people to be cut are those that aren't on the front line!