We want the Government to commit to 10% of GDP for defence spending and deliver this increase within months not years. Decisions about defence funding should not be taken by the Treasury, which we believe is not fit for purpose and unwilling properly to fund our defence.

Spending more than 10% of GDP on welfare while underfunding defence is, we feel, a bad joke. The Home Office states that “The first duty of the government is to keep citizens safe and the country secure”. The Government has a duty of care to protect us and our Armed Forces and we are being failed. Lord Robertson, ex-Secretary General of NATO, called out ‘corrosive complacency’ among politicians towards defence spending. We fear that party politics is more important than our safety and that of the Armed Forces. If there is no increase in defence spending to 10% of GDP the current Government should step aside.