Will Local Government Pick Up The Tab For Increased Defence Spending?

1st May 2024

The article published on the LocalGov web site on 30 April 2024 looks at the affect of an increase in defence spending from an English perspective u there may well be knock on effects for Scottish councils

Cllr Graham Chapman, vice-chair of the Special Interest Group of Municipal Authorities (SIGOMA), looks at what the PM's announcement of an increase in defence spending means for local authorities.

It is clear that last week's sudden announcement of a ‘substantial' increase in defence spending is not a well thought-through proposition. It bears all the hallmarks of policy led by politics and not, as it should be, vice versa. It allowed the Prime Minister to grab headlines at home, to try to appear as a statesman abroad, and to draw a much-needed dividing line with the Labour opposition in the runup to the general election. It was also clear that the funding of the package was more fag packet than forensic. Different numbers were bandied around including a claim of additional gross spend of £75bn by 2030 until it finally settled on an annual increase on current projections of £4.5bn by 2028-2029.

According to Downing Street, this funding would come from a £2.9bn reduction in the size of the civil service, and £1.6bn from the research and development budget.

What, therefore, are the implications for local government?

Read the full article HERE