Britain Plans Cut of 6% in Defense Costs
The British government announced today that it is cutting defense spending in real terms for the first time since Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher won power seven years ago.
Its annual defense “white paper,” which details principles of policy and spending projections, said defense expenditures will fall about 6% over the next three years. It put the 1986-87 budget at $28.7 billion.
Thatcher came to power on a program of boosting Britain’s nuclear and conventional forces and strengthening its role in the Western Alliance.
Since 1979, defense spending has increased $4.7 billion in real terms at an annual rate of about 3%.
Defense Secretary George Younger said that existing programs will be trimmed but that Britain will maintain its current posture and global commitments.
A sizable saving will be made on defense of the Falkland Islands, over which Britain went to war with Argentina in 1982, the minister said.
Defense spending in the South Atlantic islands will fall from this year’s $856 million to $298 million in 1988-89.
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