Douglas Carswell's Blog

Will the cost of the carriers sink the navy?

The two aircraft carriers, we are now told, will cost a further £1 Billion.  At £7 Billion, the bill for the carriers is now a great deal more than we were originally lead to believe – and I doubt this is the last upward revision.     

Given that we don’t have a great deal of spare cash to spend on defence, are we really spending what we do have wisely? Other countries seem able to build carriers for much less.  So why can't we?

Once again, defence protectionism seems to push prices up, serving the interests of a few contractors – but diminish the ability of Britain to convert what economic muscle we have into military punch.

When will folk in SW1 have the courage to make the kind of changes to defence procurement that we desperately need to ensure we start to get value for money?

It is only when we stop treating the defence budget as a job creation scheme / industrial support grant, that we'll be able to supply our armed forces with the best kit available, when they need it.

Forking out £20 Billion on the Eurofighter means we're well placed to deal with any Soviet MiGs loittering over northern Europe - but not a great deal else.  We've even had to beg for drones for Libya.  Perhaps the carriers will do much the same to our navy?

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