FOREIGN Secretary William Hague plunged the Government’s defence policy into chaos yesterday by declaring there will be no major re-think on cuts.
Prime Minister David Cameron is facing demands to reopen the Strategic Defence and Security Review as the conflict in Libya stretches our armed forces to breaking point. But Mr Hague said that while the Treasury was being “helpful” over a £1billion black hole in this year’s MoD budget, major decisions such as scrapping the Nimrod MRA4 surveillance aircraft would not be reversed.
He said: “It would be wrong to think we are re-opening the defence review. There are adjustments every year as you go along in a defence budget. That is what is happening here.”
An order for Chinook helicopters, which the Tories demanded in opposition, will be delayed as the price of the stop-gap deal with Chancellor George Osborne for more cash. Defence expert Professor Malcolm Chalmers, of the Royal United Services Institute, said the Government was just storing up problems for the future.
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