Ebola
There is widespread coverage that a female Army medic has tested positive for the Ebola virus in Sierra Leone. Public Health England, the Department of Health, the Ministry of Defence and NHS England can confirm that the UK military healthcare worker with Ebola has now been medically evacuated from Sierra Leone. The individual is being transported in a specially equipped military plane and will be treated in a special high level isolation unit at the RoyalFreeHospital in London.
Mark Francois, Minister for the Armed Forces, said:
The wellbeing of our Service personnel remains our overriding priority. This includes the individual directly affected and their four colleagues, for whom precautionary measures are now being taken. I have seen for myself the courage and dedication of our personnel who are doing such a vital job in Sierra Leone. They are helping to protect not only those in West Africa from this unprecedented outbreak but also us at home by working to combat the spread of the virus. We are very proud of what our servicemen and women are doing and our thoughts are with their colleagues and their families at this time.
Public Health England's full statement can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ebola-virus-disease-clinical-management-and-guidance
Defence spending
The future of the UK’s Defence spending continues to generate coverage across the media today. The Daily Telegraph reports that the Prime Minister’s official spokesperson has said that David Cameron 'stands by' his 2010 call for defence spending to increase in real terms after the next election. The paper reports that it is the first time this year the Prime Minister’s team has indicated Mr Cameron opposes cutting the defence budget after the election. Air Chief Marshal Lord Stirrup, the Prime Minister's former Chief of the Defence Staff, is reported to have said that any attempt to use money spent on Britain's spy agencies to meet a NATO target would be an 'outrageous' move. Meanwhile, The Sun and Daily Mirror report that the former Secretary General of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, has warned David Cameron will send 'a dangerous signal' to world tyrants if he breaks a key defence spending pledge. Meanwhile, American political adviser Luke Coffey writes in the Financial Times that as polling day looms, something is happening that he suggests was not planned on No10's general election 'communications grid' – that defence is slowly becoming a major issue. Mr Coffey comments that under ordinary circumstances this would be a surprise but, he says, these are extraordinary times.
As reported over the past few days, the Government has said that the UK continues to deliver the second largest defence budget in NATO and the largest in the EU and is committed to spending 2% of GDP on defence with decisions on spending after the financial year 2015/16 to be determined in the next spending review. Over the next decade, the Government has committed to spending £163 billion on equipment and equipment support to keep Britian safe. That includes new strike fighters; more surveillance aircraft; hunter killer submarines; two aircraft carriers ; and the most advanced armoured vehicles.
In related coverage, the United States Permanent Representative to Nato, Ivo Daalder, deliberates in the Financial Times whether Europe needs an army, making reference to recent comments made by Jean-Claude Juncker, who thinks it does. 'A common army among the Europeans,' he told German publication Welt am Sonntag, 'would convey to Russia that we are serious about defending the values of the European Union.' The Government is crystal clear that defence is a national, not an EU responsibility and that there is no prospect of that position changing - and no prospect of a European army.
French Air Strikes
The Times and Sky News Online are today reporting that France has overtaken Britain as the second biggest contributor after the US to the coalition fight against ISIL. It is incorrect to suggest this as there are many different ranking points – the UK continues to currently be the second largest contributor to coalition efforts in terms of air strikes and we welcome any contribution from other nations as we work together to defeat the ISIL terrorist network.
In response, an MOD Spokesperson said:
The UK is currently the second largest contributor to coalition air strikes against ISIL over Iraq. We welcome the commitment of other nations to address this threat and can be very clear that the UK continues to play a leading role in international coalition efforts.
The assets the UK has contributed are some of the most advanced, unique capabilities available that very few coalition partners can offer and we have, therefore, been focussing our military contribution where it can have the most impact – airstrikes in support of Iraqi forces, providing vital intelligence and surveillance - we continue to fly daily Reaper and Tornado missions and our Voyagers routinely refuel coalition aircraft, including French.
On the ground, we have trained over 1,000 Peshmerga forces and have begun to send counter IED trainers to the Kurdish region. We will also be boosting the number of UK personnel in the Coalition HQ in Baghdad to coordinate the counter IED training programme.
Porton Down
The Mirror reports that thousands of animals at a military facility have been subjected to experiments that opponents have condemned as “torture”, but supporters insist the tests are essential to protect humans.
In response, an MOD spokesperson said:
Research by the MOD’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) has saved the lives of British troops by developing new protective equipment and medical treatments that also benefit civilians. Whilst we are working to reduce the requirement for animal experimentation, some of this life-saving research simply cannot be conducted without using animals.
All research involving animals at Dstl is conducted under the terms of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. Dstl is licensed to conduct research involving animals by the Home Office, whose inspectors make both announced and unannounced visits several times a year. Dstl uses less than half of 1% of the total number of animals used in experimentation in the UK.
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