Of note for Defence amongst the broadcast bulletins this morning is a Sky News exclusive, travelling with Kurdish fighters in Syria as they regain territory from Daesh, and claim they have killed large numbers of Daesh fighters in northern Syria after they launched a major offensive.
Of relevance for Defence on today’s newspaper front pages, The FT splash claims that the Government is considering plans to nationalise Rolls-Royce’s nuclear submarine business. Elsewhere, the Independent splash claims the Chancellor is ‘risking security’ with police funding cuts, saying this will affect terrorism fears as forces that protect railways and military bases are left vulnerable to cuts.
Nuclear Submarines
The FT front page speculates that the Government is considering contingency plans for Rolls-Royce’s nuclear submarine business following reports of profit warnings.
A Government spokesperson said:
Rolls-Royce is a major contributor to the UK economy and is an important supplier of defence equipment to the Government. We continue to work closely with the company through a range of programmes to develop its world-leading technologies and support British innovation.
MOD Police
The Daily Mirror, Daily Telegraph, Independent, Times and Sun reports concerns of the risk of a terrorist strike if specialist police officers are reduced as part of the Government’s pledge to ring-fence police funding excludes transport, defence and nuclear forces.
A Government spokesperson said:
It’s ridiculous to suggest the government is not committed to funding the forces that keep our country safe. At the Spending Review we protected overall police spending in real terms with an increase of £900 million cash by 2019-20 to maintain strong frontline policing and further strengthen police firearms resource to protect UK citizens. This is on top of an extra £500 million extra funding for the counter terrorism budget, to protect the UK from the ongoing threat posed by terrorism.
Funding for other specialist police forces is not provided by a central government grant and comes from other sources, including industry. We are committed to funding our police forces across the country to protect Britain’s national security.
Civilian MOD jobs
The Sun reports that taxpayers are paying a £20million bill for civil servants across Whitehall in the redeployment pool, with the MOD having the highest number. The Sun’s cost calculation is based on the number of staff in redeployment pools based on earning their department’s average salaries. Six years ago, however, there was approximately 4,634 staff in redeployment pools across government.
A Cabinet Office line is carried, saying:
The Civil service is now at its smallest since the Second World War.
Lieutenant Colonel Lucy Giles’s 24-year military career has come full circle having commissioned into the Royal Logistic Corps (RLC) from the Camberley-based academy’s last female full company of officers in August 1992. It is a role 46-year-old Lucy feels very privileged to hold.
“I have to pinch myself really,” says Lucy. “Because, it’s an enormous privilege to be in this unique position, not only as the first female in 110 years to be at this academy in this role, but more importantly to have an opportunity to shape and influence the future leaders of our army.”
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