Ebola
There continues to be widespread coverage of the UK military healthcare worker who returned to the UK on a military plane yesterday afternoon after being tested positive for Ebola. The Guardian, The Times (p4), The Sun (p6), The Mirror, The Express and The Star all write that Public Health England has said that four further healthcare workers have come into contact with this colleague.
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 inWest 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 five colleagues and their families at this time.
Defence spending
There is continued media discussion on the future of the UK’s Defence spending. The Daily Telegraph reports that the Deputy Prime Minister has disclosed that David Cameron and George Osborne have not raised the prospect of protecting defence spending in next week's Budget despite a brewing backbench rebellion. Nick Clegg is reported to have said he had expected defence spending to be covered in planning meetings for the Budget, but 'not a dicky-bird' has been said about the issue.
Many of the papers, including the Financial Times (p3), The Times (p16), The Sun (p2), the Daily Mail, The Mirror andThe Guardian report that Downing Street is coming under increasing pressure from MPs to commit to 2% of GDP to Defence as they endorsed the target in a House of Commons debate which took place yesterday. Conservative MPs have reportedly criticised the Government for being 'blind' to the soaring threats Britain faces and have accused it of “freeloading” off the US. During the debate, John Baron MP criticised the Government for an "incompetent" restructuring of the Army, and said that the UK was “ignoring the lessons of history at our peril” by refusing to commit to spend 2% of national income on Defence. Meanwhile former defence secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind claimed the military was in a "serious condition" and that the Prime Minister was in danger of causing permanent damage to the Britain's international standing unless he increased military spending.
As reported earlier in the week, 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 Britain safe. That includes new strike fighters; more surveillance aircraft; hunter killer submarines; two aircraft carriers; and the most advanced armoured vehicles. Furthermore, Future Force 2020 means that are Armed Forces are now more flexible and more able to adapt to evolving threats and the PrimeMinister has made clear that he does not want to see our regular armed services reduced below the level that they are now and we remain on track to deliver the Reserve force needed to counter the wide range of threats we face.
Image of the day
![Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh attended the Service of Commemoration, Reflection and Remembrance, Afghanistan 2001 to 2014, at St Paul’s Cathedral today (Friday 13 March). They joined members of the Armed Forces, veterans, the Next of Kin of deceased personnel, representatives of military and aid charities and organisations, and the UK’s NATO allies at the event. [Picture Crown Copyright]](https://modmedia.blog.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/142/2015/03/POD13.jpg)