The Government say they are increasing the British commitment to European security.
This comes as the new Defence Secretary announces a package of support destined for the continent. According to a press release, the Government has outlined what it’s calling a “further commitment to Europe”.
“The Defence Secretary will announce that the UK is stepping up in the Western Balkans. In addition to the troops already based in Kosovo, supporting peace in the country, and our contribution to the EU’s Op Althea in Bosnia and Herzegovina, from next year a Battalion will be held at high readiness to respond to any situation in the region. This will see 600 soldiers ready to move into the region at short notice.”
Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said:
“In the face of an increasingly assertive Russia, the UK has significantly stepped up its commitment to Europe and today I can confirm a further package of support, showing how we remain at the forefront on European security.
We are standing by our allies across air; deploying Typhoons to Southern Air Policing in Romania, land; increasing our support to the Kosovo peacekeeping operation, and sea; with HMS Ocean returning to the NATO Standing Maritime Group.”
The Defence Secretary is also expected to welcome the return of HMS Ocean to one of NATO’s Standing Maritime groups, following its redeployment to the Caribbean to help in the hurricane recovery.
Defence secretary is expected to WELCOME the return of HMS Ocean to NATO S M G ? A crack or wishful thinking?
Neither. It means he is happy that HMS Ocean was able to return to its original duty as flag of a NATO Standing Maritime Group after returning from the Caribbean. Therefore he “welcomes the return of HMS Ocean”
A bit of banter Ben. Sorry you had to explain it to me!
In other words ‘Goverment announce plans to ‘step up commitment’ to European security to counter Russia, but refuses to step up funding for the armed forces to meet those commitments.
Mr Nail meet Mr Head
Closer yet still closer to conflict. I’d have more confidence in our commitments if there was a commensurate increase in real defense spending. Every day the news is increasingly disquieting in regards the retention of UK defense assets. If we are to place more of our forces in possible danger in Eastern Europe, there should be enough reserve back up and in many cases, such equipment is either stripped of parts or in a scrap yard. Even this week news reached us of further cutbacks in helicopter training overseas, so where does that fit into expanded operations??
If Russia decides to test us especially in Estonia, there are none of the fences and extensive minefields that stretch across the Germany border, no, just a hundred yards of scrub and that’s it in many areas!
Once again a government over commits an under funded military, the next thing they will be complaining that no one wants to join..
Absolutely disgraceful.
Europe still won’t thank or respect us – never has, never will. just keep stabbing us in the back
Pacman27 sadly true.
Well with the first report on the latest defence review to be published next month (Funny enough just before the break up for Christmas) I wonder how the traitors in Parliament are going to erode even further.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/strategic-defence-and-security-review-implementation
Relax guys I think it is MoD spin.
As per 2015 SDSR, of the UK 3rd Divisions 4 Brigades, 2 are to be kept at high readiness.
If this Infantry Battalion is from these assets it is a typical MoD statement, as assets are kept ready to deploy anyway, so nothing has changed!
And he said “ready to deploy” Which means still in Barracks at Tidworth or Bulford so hardly further stretching our already thin assets as people are predictably posting.
Moving on.
What? – no 178Bn equipment plan????
Ever growing defence budget
The point is Ron, the defence budget is growing but not as much as we would all like.
Or we’re paying ever more for ever diminishing capability(QEs excepted).
Paceman 100% right! Spot on.
needs to be said our European allies are an ungrateful bunch, wishing to punish us for a democratic vote and have no memory of history on this armistice day. 2.5 million British lives lost in last century trying to defend Europe from Germanic tyrany.
Most of our wealth squandered defending Europe and fighting to free Europe in 2 massively costly world wars and all for what? So the EU can tell us we owe them tens of billions £.
Just madness we need to give the EU a simple message free trade and no bill is friendship, punishing bill for free trade is not friendship it is enemity.
We should pull all our forces back and only help those nations that are supportive of democracy, the rule of law and not a German dominated EU. Leave them to it.
Mr Bell – I am very happy to share all your views in that post. Just look at what this country lost in WWII alone in power and influence. And sadly it gave rise to the US dominance that has caused so much grief since. We had to fight the fight and win that fight whatever the cost. But for smug Europeans to forget the lessons of history and lecture us on what WE owe THEM frankly makes me puke. Rough estimates put the financial cost to the UK in 1945 money @ £120 Bn (the human cost is priceless of course) so maybe WE should now right THEM an invoice. Not for what WWII cost. Just what maintaining their security has cost SINCE WWII will do. Say £100 Bn in today’s money.
Quite why we are committing more of our Forces to defend those who wish to do us severe economic and strategic harm utterly defeats me. The EU have laid their cards out regarding Brexit. They have declared they, not us, will defend their continent with their own Army (having never really supported NATO adequately). So be it. Withdraw every damn aircraft, ship, tank, piece of kit, man and woman back to the UK and let us have a whole Continent between us and the supposed Russian Threat. And maybe we can distance ourselves from the EU aggression towards Russia that started all this recent shit off in the first place (Ukraine) and establish a new dialogue with Putin.
We seem to acting like a bunch of mugs allowing ourselves to be slapped around and going back for more…… I know what Maggie would have said (and that isn’t a political comment)
Mr Bell the idea that fighting in WW2 for the UK was somehow all for nothing is ludicrous, as you must surely know. The idea that the EU ‘wishes us harm’ is absurd and indefensible – I know you have an animus against the EU but if you wish this post to be taken seriously you’ll have to do better than this. I could go on but so much of your post is full of inaccuracies and half-truths that I give up. If perhaps you are worried about the UK’s economy post-Brexit don’t you weren’t warned by all and sundry before hand what would happen if we did vote to leave. Well well did anyway – and it entirely our resp
onsiblity for the mess, not the EU’s.
Tim62 – If the EU do not wish us harm why have they deliberately decided to breach the terms of Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty by refusing to discuss ‘the future relationship’? And why have they erected impossible demands about the way we leave (none of which are described in Article 50 either)?
How can we know what to pay when we do not know the shape of the future Trade Deal? (We by the way have offered a Free Trade deal and £20 Bn over two years)
How can we decide on the Irish Border without knowing the customs arrangements of a future trade deal? (We by the way have offered a return of the CTA we instigated with the Irish in 1923)
And we offered back in September 2016 full rights to EU citizens as long as that was reciprocated by the EU for UK citizens. THEY not us have failed to agree that.
You need to understand these are political ideologues, who are otherwise total non entities, who created this fantasy of a United States of Europe (called ‘The Project) and foisted it on unsuspecting set of countries with the creation of the EU from the trading deal called the EEC. They have created the control and the image step by step inching their way with each facet of a United States of Europe;
A Flag
QMV
A Currency
A Parliament
5 presidents
A Supreme Court
An Anthem
A Police force
And now an Army
Having got this far they feel the need to punish the UK so it deters others from leaving. Tusk only yesterday threatened our Prime Minister with a demand for money with menaces. Anywhere else that would be called extortion or indeed a criminal act. Something more suited to Sicily than Brussels or London. THIS is not negotiating by friendly people. This is an attack on this country. A country that mostly gave them all their freedom from German occupation, a country that has done more than any of them to maintain their own peace and security since WWII and a country that even today has RAF aircraft defending Baltic airspace, Army armoured divisions in Poland and Eastern Europe and the Royal Navy in the Mediterranean sorting out the mass migration invited by Merkel and the EU.
I just hope (but I don’t hold my breath) that we have found another Iron Lady and Tess never bows down to threats from anyone let alone a bunch of unelected nobodies.
Three words will do: NO! NO! NO!
Tim62 I defer you to Chris’s reply.
well said. Nothing else to add except
my point about WW1 and WW2 were the principle of sacrifice to our own and their (meaning European) friendship. They are ungrateful, they are forgetful to the point of insult. If Tim62 disagrees then I would be insulted to the point of thinking him a baboon. The loss of British lives fighting for yes our own freedom but also the European freedom dictates that we we should be treated with respect and gratitude anything less is insulting.
on another note the costs of UK maintaining RAF and Army units in Germany during cold war was probably more like £400-500 billion in todays money. So we simply owe the EU and European dream precisely nothing.
Also we meaning the UK were one of only 3 countries that paid in more to the bloated EU coffers then we got back. £450 billion. Imagine if that money had been spent at home on say infrastructure. By god we would have a country to be proud of. Instead the £450 billion was probably spent on infrastructure in Brussels, Strasbourg or developing other EU countries…nice hospitals and roads in Spain, Portugal.