Wages or weapons?
You may be interested to know that I’ve got an article over on the Quickfire section of the New Statesman today. It discusses the problem of calls for higher defence spending at a time when the government insists on workers accepting a pay cut.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has strongly opposed talks with public sector unions over pay, arguing that ‘there’s no magic wand here to come up with money that the country doesn’t have.’ But at the same time Wallace is pressing the Treasury for billions more for his own department. Treasury briefings indicate concern that existing defence projects are overrunning by billions of pounds.
The public is very capable of seeing through an argument that claims there is no more money for nurses, ambulance workers or teachers, but that there is more for the military.