The New Statesman
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Ben Wallace: Boris Johnson & Rishi Sunak must invest more in defence | Politics Live | New Statesman
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June 30, 2022
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51:38Now PlayingThe Defence Secretary has criticised cabinet colleagues including Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak over their security spending.
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Speaking on a panel alongside Dame Margaret Beckett, Ben Wallace said the government should approach spending in response to rising global security threats in a similar way to how they tackle the NHS winter crisis.
Wallace said: "Every time there's an NHS winter crisis, governments and chancellors respond to that. Not sure they respond to threat increases around the world in the same way".
The Defence Secretary has been extremely vocal about perceived shortfalls in military funding, with some well-sourced reports suggesting he had demanded to increase the defence budget to 2.5% of GDP. In this interview he denies that 2.5% figure, but says that while the government has been receiving money in the form of the Peace Dividend since the end of the Cold War, "there is a time to take, and a time to invest". The rising threat of Russia and the war in Ukraine means that the time to invest, according to Wallace, is now.
Ben Wallace was taking part in a panel discussion at the New Statesman Politics Live conference discussing the biggest threats to UK National Security. The panel was hosted by Harry Lambert of the New Statesman and other speakers included Margaret Beckett, chair of the National Security Strategy select committee, Patricia Lewis, director of the International Security Programme at Chatham House, and Charles Woodburn, CEO of BAE Systems.
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