Britain’s Defences
News today that the UK is going to deploy military aircraft to help Saudi Arabian fighter jets with refuelling in the conflict against Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen. I wish our RAF well in their deployment - but we must continue to ask questions about the Prime Minister’s decision making about defence.
The first role of Government is defence of our country. But our Prime Minister seems to have forgotten that. He recently said that national security “can't come at the expense of social security”. We must of course look after those in society who need support, but the welfare bill is ballooning, Russia are agitating, and the Prime Minister is giving away territory which is part of our overseas military presence. Even worse – he is paying to do so! The Telegraph reports that the Prime Minister “will do everything possible” to hand over the Chagos Islands, and a Labour Defence minister said that giving away £35 billion was “good use” of the defence budget.
Our leader Kemi has made it clear that
“We will always put Britain’s national interest first by ensuring our foreign policy strengthens our sovereignty, defends our allies, and advances British prosperity and security worldwide.”
I know the importance of working with our allies across the world – to protect our country, and build our resilience.
We have a brilliant Defence team, headed by James Cartlidge, who have set out a clear plan to increase our Defence funding, support our service personnel and stand with our allies. We need to be ready to protect ourselves, properly backing the armed forces to keep us safe.
I’m delighted to back Kemi in her plan to make the tough decisions needed to cut welfare and fund defence.
