FactCheck: defence spending PMQs
Updated on 15 July 2009
Defence spending is the topic of the day, but how much does Britain really spend and how do we rate to other countries? FactCheck gets involved.
The claim
"Defence spending has continued to rise in real terms in contrast to what happened under the last years of the Conservative government.
In addition to the defence budget we have put aside £14bn for campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our budget in cash terms is still the second largest in the world."
Gordon Brown, prime minister's questions, 15 July 2009
The analysis
Three claims, and three sets of numbers to look at. First is the Treasury's figures for defence spending.
In real terms, this has been increasing since 2001-2 (it's increased every year since Labour came to power apart from a drop between 2000-1 and 2001-2, although there was a change in accounting methods around this time which may or may not have affected things).
The same figures do show a decrease in the last years of Conservative rule - from £34.5bn in 1992-3 to £28.7bn in 1996-7 and a low of £27.5bn in 1997-8. And using these calculations, spending has only just got back up to the recent Tory high - an estimated equivalent of £36.2bn in 2008-9.
These figures also show spending has fallen slightly as a share of national income. In the last year of Tory rule, 1996-7, defence spending accounted for 2.8 per cent of GDP. For the first four years of Labour's term, it was either 2.6 or 2.7 per cent. From 2001 until 2005, it counted for 2.5 per cent; from 2005-6 to 2007-8, a low of 2.4 per cent. The latest figures estimate it at 2.6 per cent of GDP in 2008-9.
Neither figure is "right" or "wrong" - they're just different ways of measuring it. FactCheck reckons that a share of GDP is usually the most usual figure for comparison, although it's arguable whether a reduction in the proportion of the spend on something when the economy is growing anyway qualifies as a "cut".
The MoD said these figures describe what it calls the "core" defence budget. As Brown said today, £14bn extra has been spent on Afghanistan and Iraq since 2001.
This money comes from a Treasury reserve fund and goes on "urgent operational requirements" - which can include things like new vehicles, and medical equipment - plus capital spending on extra equipment. According to MoD figures, this has accounted for additional spending of £5,645mn on Afghanistan since 2001-2, and £8,379mn in Iraq since 2002-3.
What about our international position? The independent Stockholm Peace Research Institute Yearbook attempts to compare international military expenditure based on a definition that remains constant over time.
The 2009 edition, released last month, put the UK fourth, rather than second, in a table of top 10 military spenders in current US dollars in 2008.
The US dominated the table, spending $607bn on defence. SIPRI estimated that China came second, spending $84.9bn. France came in third place, with $65.7bn, and squeezing the UK's $65.3bn into fourth place.
Sources
Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses tables
MoD
SIPRI yearbook launch
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