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PM: 'Era Of Defence Cuts Over' As Int' Situ 'Most Perilous Since Cold War'

UK

Prime Minster Boris Johnson making a statement to the House of Commons virtually on the integrated defence review announces a GBP16.5bn package of defence spending, the largest investment in the UK's armed forces since the end of the Cold War.

  • Johnson says that the era of cuts in defence spending is over, stating "For decades, governments have pruned and cheese-paired the defence budget. I refuse to take up the scalpel again".
  • Says that the international situation is the most perilous it has been at any point since the end of the Cold War.
  • UK gov'ts announcement comes at a time when it is attempting to prove itself a reliable ally to the incoming administration of US President-Elect Joe Biden.
  • A commitment to defence spending that ensures the UK as the second-largest contributor to NATO behind the US is viewed as a good way of doing this. Comes in contrast to other major European defence spender, France, where President Macron has previously called NATO 'brain dead'.

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