Military delight at big rise

THE Ministry of Defence had hoped for a budget boost of between £1bn and £2.5bn (a quarter of 1% of GDP) to keep its present operations and programmes running and for extra capabilities to combat terrorism.

The new money will be directed primarily at building up rapid intervention forces.

'They want something that can get on the ground in 48 hours,' says Major Charles Heyman of the Jane's Defence Group. The Royal Marines required more than a month to become fully operational in Afghanistan.

The Army needs to invest in new light armoured vehicles for terrain such as Afghanistan and Sierra Leone - and was seeking new money for their FRES (Future Rapid Effect Systems) programmes.

What they got

THE Ministry of Defence will be handed an inflation-beating budget increase of £3.5bn spread over the next three years.

The announcement by Chancellor Gordon Brown means that defence spending will grow by almost £1.2bn a year - significantly more than defence chiefs had hoped for. Mr Brown described the rise as the 'largest substantial real terms increase in defence spending for 20 years'.

The total defence budget will rise from £29.3bn in the current financial year to £32.8bn in 2005-06, although in cash terms the actual amount available to the MoD is around £5bn lower.

Defence chiefs and Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon have said that they are delighted at the extra money. Senior officials have emphasised that long-term programmes, such as the decision to buy two big aircraft carriers, are now all but sure to go ahead - with first contracts awarded in February.

The increase puts Britain way ahead of its European military partners.

'It's going to be a tough decision for partners like France and Germany,' said a senior policy official in Whitehall today, 'but they now have to decide whether they are going to follow us and be with Britain when we are needed.'