Today's defence related news includes the Scottish Rate of Income Tax and defence expenditure.
Scottish Rate of Income tax
The BBC, The Telegraph, Daily Record and The Scotsman report that the Defence Secretary is planning an unprecedented intervention to protect Armed Forces personnel in Scotland being impacted by local tax rises.
Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said:
The Scottish Government’s tax hike unfairly hits 70 per cent of our brave and loyal service personnel in Scotland, leaving thousands of them out of pocket. This is wrong.
I am working to ensure that those who are most affected do not feel they are losing out by serving in Scotland. We are urgently reviewing how we can counter this unjustified raid on our Armed Forces.
Defence Expenditure
The BBC and The Times interviewed Rear Admiral Alex Burton, former Commander of UK Maritime Forces, who called for the defence budget to be increased urgently.
A Government spokesperson said:
The UK maintains the biggest defence budget in Europe and the fifth largest in the world, already exceeding NATO’s 2 per cent spending target. Over the next three years, the Defence Budget is increasing by £1bn a year.
The threats faced by the UK are ever changing which is why we have also increased security and counter terrorism budgets.
We are carrying out the Modernising Defence Programme to explore how we strengthen and modernise the Armed Forces for the future.
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