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Strategic Defence and Security Review

If someone had an argument about the sovereignty of an eastern state, I am quite sure we would have a much more robust response from our nearest ally. The cost and specification of the new carriers has been much derided. One estimate is that they could be as much as £3.1 billion more expensive than planned. I have heard many an ““amusing”” conversation in this place about the decks being too short for aircraft to take-off and the possibility of sailors being burnt to a crisp by aircraft engines, along with other such Bird and Fortune material. We laugh, while blindly heading for a greater folly: spending such a sum, only to deny ourselves the capability that it should have brought. If we end up with just one operational carrier, we will have wasted £5 billion over the initial estimates, yet for months of every year we will be without cover. If our enemies strike during an off-period, the British people will ask what that hefty final bill has actually achieved. Thanks to the last Government, £3 billion has been needlessly spent on carrier strike force. Under this Government, let us not have £7 billion pointlessly spent.