By Chathushka Perera
LONDON, UK (CWBN)_ Even as Opposition Leader, Sir Keir Starmer, decried PM Boris Johnson as the “single biggest threat to the future of the United Kingdom”, Downing Street revealed that it would announce the largest defence budget since the Cold War, in a bid to improve military capabilities over the next four years.
The budget would carry a strong focus on the development of “digital backbone”, AI and space technologies. In the case of the latter, it is expected that the UK would launch its first rocket into space via its own “space command” by 2022.
The proposed commitment is valued at an additional GBP 16.5 billion (USD 21.83 billion) to current defence expenditure, which stands at GBP 41.5 billion (USD 54.92 billion), bringing the total up to around GBP 58 billion (USD 76.76 billion).
Since the defence budget drop of 2.3% (GBP 35.3 billion – USD 46.71 billion) in 2016, it has slowly increased, however, the proposed budget amounts to larger spike in comparison and is well above the party’s promises for a budget increase of 0.5% per year.
Although the decision was made to counter the “perilous and intensely competitive” developments that have taken place over the past few years. The case made by the government appears to reflect the China’s increasing political influence, economic and military capacities and aggressions, which have afforded a strategic advantage following the outbreak of the Covid-19 worldwide.
Nonetheless, the question remains whether the move would be feasible given the country’s economic slump, which is expected to worsen over the quarter as lockdown restrictions have intensified owing to the rapid spread of the virus in the country reaching a count of nearly 1.5 million and over 53,000 deaths.
Edited by Elishya Perera
