With current and past leaders of the armed services joining the Americans in calling for ever greater percentages of national income to be devoted to defence, some hardheaded thinking is going to be needed (Starmer will go in ‘bin of history’ if he fails to raise defence budget, says ex-army chief, 15 February).
Unless defence spending contributes to growth, we could have the absurd situation of increasing the proportion of GDP spent on defence without any material increase in the actual amount available; 2.5% of substantial growth is better than 3% of an economy flatlining.
