Dont worry i will vote labour in the next general election any way.

Mohammad. Naimur Rahman, Bolton, Lanc

very simple question:
are you going to vote (again) for Labours in the next general election?

riccardo, brussels,

Well, given the fact that the UK is not a superpower, the fact that it is the 2nd largest spender of "defence" is quite simply disgusting. "Defence" budgets in the UK should be slashed massively with the money being spent on more deserving budgets such as the NHS.

In reality, "defense" means invading random countries, and if the UK has a problem with funding such exploits, they merely need to stop doing so.

Scott, Zurich, Switzerland

After the Tory shambles of the 90s, I hoped I would never see as bad a regime ever again. And I haven't with Nu Liebour - they're even worse!

David Russell, Sheffield, South Yorkshire

How else can they find the £15bn for asylum and immigration and the massive social security expenditure for our feckless underclass without cutting military spending.
They know where their priorities lie, it's the immigrants and underclass that will vote for them at the next election.
In any event Brown probably has nightmares about a military takeover if things get any worse, so why wouldn't he try to destroy them.

david webb, bournemouth, uk

Brown and new liarbour are simply unfit to govern. They MUST stand down now!!!! Browns incompetance is unbelievable.

Dale Marsh, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk

Time for impeachment?

Dave, Wrexham,

If youy ask the military to carry out a mission at least give them the resources to do so adequately and professionaly.

Don't turn it into a 3rd world farce

alex, gibraltar, gibraltar

I think that the government are not thinking in a joined up fashion. As my husband commented-They are not running a tight ship-

They must all get their heads around this military issue.
I expect it is a serious as being given mouldy ships tack to eat
like they did in WW2.
It is our military, with our sons and daughters and husbands playing a very dangerous part in maintaing a semblance of order in this troubled world.
The government has no excuse , respect these brave personell, equip them properly, with aftercare thrown in!!!

Mrs Maggie Snook, Wareham, Dorset UK

The incompetence daily demonstrated by this government is beyond astounding. Such performance on the part of a privately owned enterprise would easily be found criminally culpable. To think, I thought the last Tory regime was thin beer.

Dennis Eagan, Colorado Springs, CO, USA

DISGUSTING!
More money is spent on social programs to appease people in the UK who support those the government sends our brave men and women to fight.

Phil, Norfolk, VA, USA.

* The national DISGRACE of the abuse of our own service personnel.

* Unfetted Immigration & the loss of our border control

* Loss of order on our streets

* Judges being ordered to give non-custodial sentences if at all possible and those that are given them now serving less than a third of their sentences.

These acts border on treason.

And I haven't even started about the destruction of the pension funds, the education standards, the gross bureaucratic waste and financial mis-management.

2010 is a long way away ... how much more damage will this shower of incompotents plague us with?

Cliff, Marseille, France

Brown's Britain where day in day out ferral youths run wild stabbing, shooting & mudering, where speed cameras fleece £1,000,000's every day from its citizens, where billions and billions have been wasted on unreformed heath care, unreformed education, ridiculous tax credits, dole cheats & much much more, where 35% of school leavers cannot read, where £50,000,000,000 has been borrowed to bail out a small bank, where town and city centres are filled with drunken, foul mouthed youngsters & have become no go zones, where it is normal to use the grossest of language in a basic conversation, where uneducated single mothers sponge off the state and breed endless milti-father ill educated children, where the streets & roadsides are littered beyond comprehension, where health & safety is a joke, etc etc etc And where our once proud military are put at risk & make do with limited and often outdated equipment. Shame on you Brown. We never voted for you and never wanted you. Call and election now

DENIS DOWEN, HARTLEPOOL, UK

Don't just blame Brown & Co, the defence budget has been regularly trimmed since Thatcher came to power in the late 70's.

John Brunt, Grantham, Lincs

Come on you generals put your honour where your mouth is and resign. And don't hide behind the hoary old chestnut - you can change it from inside the system - you plainly can't

Henry GB, Brampton, Cumbria

who are these people (see above)
who is the enemy?
we are a proud country with an amazing history but we are also too silent on big issues and leave the ground to others who speak only for themselves.

politics student, reading,

I served with pride in the Royal Navy (in the days when it was a force to be reckoned with) but with sorrow and regret advised my son against considering a career as an officer in the Royal Marines. The reason was quite simple. Once "inside" you must serve the Queen through the government of the day. However, the assumption is that (i) the government will make available the resources required for the services to do the job and (ii) that credible planning and forethought will be a prerequisite step taken before any deployment. It is obvious that this government will do neither.

Iain Percival, Balblair, Scotland

As an ex-officer in the Forces I would normally never condone mutiny. However, in the case of this Labour Government, no soldier, sailor or airman should risk his or her life on behalf of this morally corrupt bunch of self-serving politicians. For the first time in this country's history the Armed Forces would be quite justified in refusing to go and fight on their behalf.

Bruce Burniston, Swansea, UK

I saw Gordon Brown in the flesh when he opened the new Ecology centre here.

He was shorter than i expected.

James, Bangor, Wales,

Ross england didnt retake the falklands the brittish armed forces did. Its up to the military to say enough is enough to this poor goverment fund us or we cant go and help the states fight for oil.

iain graham, Dumfries,

I served for 27 years in the RAF and was proud too. I now feel with real regret that in Blair /Browns Britain you would be a mug to wear the uniform, the normal law abiding citizen of this country is being sold down the river. The money was their for Northern Rock in billions, but servicemen die for the need of a fraction of that.

Ray Sturgess, Calne, Wilts

15 billion for rockets that can only be used with US permission but cuts on the basic supply of the military?

Timur, London,

Is there anything more disgusting than sending our troops to war on behalf of the Neocon vermin that infest the Bush administration and not even allow them to protect themselves against the angry millions who predictably object to their presence?

John G, Bromley, UK

Thissocialist Labour governemet has got the UK involved in more military adventures than any previous goverment in living memory. It is easy to play the world statesman and policeman when others are paying the ultimate price. The 'prudent' chancellor has wasted so much money by throwing billions at the NHS, Education, Tax Credits and many more disastrous Labour free spending projects. We the voters have no way of showing our disgust, servicemen are leaving in droves which only makes it harder for thise left behind. Even if there were an election tomorrow it will take years to sort out mismangement of the nation's finances on this scale. Waht Labour has done/is doing to the military is indefensible. Coupled with uncontrolled immigration, crime and many other areas of
'disaster' if it difficult to see the UK ever recovering. Will the last person to leave please switch off the lights.

Cliff, Exeter,

Brown has sent the last of our reserves to Kosovo. That's it. The army is spent.

For the first time since WW2 the whole of the parachute regiment are being deployed to Afghanistan.

Our national debt interest payments now cost as much as the whole MoD budget.

Brown is jeopardising our national security.

Doug , Aberdeen,

The Military Covenant has been abandoned, the Royal Navy is on the rocks, the RAF are struggling to get off the ground and the Army are running around Afghanistan shouting bang your dead due to the lack of armaments. Oh dear what a to do, pass me another expenses form.

Cromwell, Leeds, England

has it occurrd to anyone to introduce a penal battallion into the military, unarmed naturally to perform dangerous tasks such as mine clearance, prisoner searches, etc., upon completion of time served then they are free to rejoin society without a criminal record

matt, stpke,

Is it not time that the defence chiefs told the politicians. Supply the cash for us or we do not send the forces to fight. They have a duty not to send our forces to fight without the right resources. If the politicians are so sure that they are right, why do I not see more of their offspring in the services ?

Roy Wyatt, Portsmouth, UK

Gordon Brown is the Plastic Prime Minister. He has led this country into levels of personal debt that will ruin us all.

The sooner Gordon Brown is voted out the better.

CM, London,

As a nation we are broke - pure and simple. Just the veneer remains - the supports are rotten. Brown and the rest have sold us down the river and turned us into a third world outfit on the edge of Europe.

Our descent will quicken as the 'City' is shown to be the casino sham it is. So its little surprise the military have no money.

Just keep telling yourselves 'we are the fifth wealthiest nation'.

Michael Green, Rugby,

This Government has dismantled everything that is good about this country, its self esteem, its pride, its social cohesion its identity, even its ability to defend itself.

Marcus Harrison, Preston, UK

Labour have always seen robbing defence spending as a piggy bank for them to raid. But so reduced now are our forces that they are guilty of rendering this country incapable of self defence.
If they stopped waisting in excess of £100.M a year on social security, let alone all the money spent on health and education with no visible sign of improvement, and spent some of it on defence the problem wouldn't exist, but their spending is cynicallly aimed at catching the votes of those they support, not the long term security of this country.

John Lewis, London, UK

The defence budget cuts have nothing to do with economics. Brown is, (and has been for the last ten years), driving us slowly but surely into the outstretched arms of Brussels and the proposed EU Military.

Then, when we are defenceless, we will be unable to escape from the EU, particularly with the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty. Talk of a UNITED Kingdom or, for that matter, an independent Scotland will be meaningless.

The destruction of our once great nation, Blair's hidden agenda from day one, will be complete.

L. J. Simister, Spilsby, Lincolnshire

Brown will be defeated in 2010 - I am certain !! He is a spent force in British politics and only their because he is only PM because he was sulking after the job for just over 10 yrs.

The sooner Brown goes the better for us all !!!!

Ian Payne, Walsall,

We need to make the "savings" in order to spend £9.5 BILLION so that a few foreigners can come here and run round in circles for a couple of weeks in 2012. Much better than to build a new airport east of London or (if we have to keep going to other countries and fighting people) giving our forces the right equipment in time to save their lives.

Christopher, Limpsfield,

This will only change when enough people join the UK National Defence Association. When the Government starts to see votes at stake they might just start to wake up.

Tom, Sevenoaks,

This typical for a Labour government. They have consistantly sought to undermine thr military yet thow thousands of ounds at the yobs and workshy to maintain a large proportion of the country dependenat upon the state and Labour.

Decent people are getting killed serving their country and indecent people (the politicians) are getting away milking it..

Chris, Ascot, uk

Nick - the only reason that we need American planes to provide close air support is that we haven't got any of our own to do the job.

Simon, York,

If this government wasn't so weak in following America into ridiculous oil wars, propping up failing banks and stealing money for their own interests then maybe we'd be able to afford the essentials, instead of all these non-essential, corrupt and criminal extravagances.

At least the Tories weren't stupid enough to walk into Vietnam, and if England is so weak, how did it retake the Falklands?

Incidentally, America's "aid" in WW2 came at a huge cost to England - it wasn't aid, we paid a fortune for the assistance, so don't do us any favours, Yanks.

Ross, Ripon, UK

I'm an ex serviceman. 29 ago I voted Labour out because of their appalling treatment of the armed forces. I'd seen people living in ghastly accommodation, their wives claiming various forms of benefit while they were on active duty. It seems that things have not changed, and that defending the things like the national health service are no longer a priority. After all, NATO will take care of Europe, won't it? I hate to say it but it feels as if Labour have lost the plot, and that our security systems are paying the price. This cannot be. This cannot be.

Peter Hood, London,

Matt Collins thats typical comment from a DH American and from a counrty that can't even project it's kids in school.

Dave, Phuket, Thailand

Matt Collins you are a funny man - you'll get the islanders all worked up!

Britain never surrender - they fight untill the last American/Russian standing - so probably they don't need a MoD/DoD/

They just need a good 'phone a friend' call centre for when things get tough.

Foreigner, Oxfords,

At a time where the government can still find £5Bn of tax payers money for overseas aid and who knows the true amount for Northern Rock it is sign of new labour - old labour values. I'm sure this money could be better spent on home defence or pensioners who would graciously receive it.

Grant, Salisbury, UK

Mr. Brown can do worse than to go and visit a few funerals, or meet with family who lost their loved ones. And explain to them why it is that lack of vital equipment has resulted in the death of their children, brothers, sisters and husbands. At times when the British government is looking to spend 80million pounds on sending a probe to the moon, they are looking to cut vital funds to those who are paying for the consequences of their ill judge adventures abroad.
The inability of him and his predecessor to find time to visit the funerals of those who died in Iraq and Afghanistan speaks volumes.

Reuben Klein, London,

Well, thats labour government showing their true colours.At this rate the UK armed forces will be toothless. Not long beforethey go the way of New Zealand and shut down the combat component of the the RAF. May be thgy might find it cheaper to let the Americans take over the air defence as since they are at it. What a shame!!

nathan, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Why don't we just shut the military down? Then Gordon wouild have tons of money, we could be overrun by anybody and our boys and girls would not be killed trying to do their duty.

leila , manchester, uk

Brown could not really care about the forces having starved them of funds for 10 years as chancellor. His weazel words of support sound pathetic and his so called increase in expenditure is more than used up with our long term commitments in the middle east and afganistan. Who wants to join our underfunded and overstreached armed forces-- no wonder there is a shortage of feet on the ground
R. Maclean Glasgow

R Maclean, Glasgow, Scotland

Lions governed by donkies

dave , london,

And the villains on the world scene chortle with glee as Brown continues his quest to lead a Formerly Great Britain further the great abyss.

And the defense budget is to rise an astronomical 1.5% over the three years? One must wonder if Brown and Cohorts are aware of the massive growth of not only Russia, but more importantly, China? Probably not, for surely they would not be so complacent about defending the nation's people and vital interests.

Bob Evans, Anaheim, California

Now read the following article in todays issue: Twenty-four MPs with seats in Greater London claimed almost £400,000 of public money to fund second homes last year. It really beggars belief that so many people could have voted for such treacherous self seekers.
Send the children of these people to the army so they can enjoy at first hand the reality of their parents "tough decisions." See how many body bags it then takes before soldiers lives become more precious than MPs expenses.

David Masu, Zürich,

Ah, the boom and bust of Treasury defence management....

Neil Marshall, Cambridge, UK

While troops are still deployed and fulfilling our international obligations under the current tight budgeting there does not seem any need by Gordon B to put any more money into the MoD pot. Until the MoD withdraws troops or refuses to deploy until there personnel are adequately equipped there seems no pressure for GBrown to change the situation.......Is this possible or is the MoD obliged to send their troops as is……..barefoot and with slings??

KGA, Frankfurt , Germany

This is what happens when a Government cuts the defence budget from 3.5% of GDP to 2.4% and reducing all the time. Mind you all these cuts increase the liklihood of a military coup to overthrow the government, in a third world country it would already have happened and the politicians executed.

Stephen, St. Ives, England

For years this government has been saying, in effect, "You've never had it so good", so WHY can we not afford defence expenditure? Precisely where has all the government's revenue gone?

Surely, this must be an indication of gross economic mismanagement on a fairly large scale?

Steve Evans, Hong Kong,

It appears that British defence spending suffers from the notion that each service must get the same budget. The UK needs more infantrymen and helicopters but must buy the Eurofighter and Trident replacement to satisfy the RAF & RN. Until this notion of "equality" is shelved MOD will never have enough cash for the ground combat forces that are regularly employed on operations.

M Shannon, Kabul,

Why doesn't the UK just shut down the Defence Dept. You can't defend yourselves anyway.

matt collins, athens,ga, usa


We probably cant afford to defend ourselves because we are always fighting your wars for you.

oliver, burnaby,

Matt Collins, you're wrong. Leastways no planes have hit the Houses of Parliament yet.

tim, Auckland, New Zealand

Hey Matt Collins,

what is the defense against "friendly fire"?

Remember folks, after being late for two major world wars, it's better to make sure you don't miss any more by starting them yourself!

Nick, Potters Bar, UK

Winston is spinning in his grave. These cuts are an insult to those who serve and fight for Britain. British soldiers on the ground with us in Afghanistan don't have the equipment they need to fight the Taliban and have to call in American air support because the RAF can't do the job anymore. You are an island nation and yet your PRIMARY maritime recon aircraft (Nimrod) is a danger to the life and limb of the airmen who fly in it. Procurement for the Harrier replacement has been pushed back and the once-invincible Royal Navy is, well, you know. All this I say as a friend, but if I were an enemy of Britain, I couldn't ask for more than what your own government is doing to you now.

Paul Woodside, San Jose, California

I agree Mr Matt Collins, we cannot defend ourselves as we are too busy fighting your oil wars for you.

Mick Cundy, Fakenham, England

I'm sure the Goverment could find cash for asylum seeks or other "good causes".

Mark, Leeds, Yorkshire

Why doesn't the UK just shut down the Defence Dept. You can't defend yourselves anyway.

matt collins, athens,ga, usa

This says it all about this government!Craven,cowardly and without any moral centre it now proposes to leave our Armed Forces high and dry with swingeing cuts across the board!!This government has sent young men to their deaths in both Iraq and Afghanistan,has shown no remorse or compassion for the horrors visited upon our servicemen and women but I think on this occasion enough is enough.Give the M.O.D want they deserve and stop being modern day scrooges, Mr Brown and Mr Darling!!

Andrew Lewis, Walsall, England

Gordon Brown has let the military down badly. He is inept and it is shameful that people go into combat regularly on peace time funding, that ships are starved of spares while he attempts to take the credit for their successes. It is a disgrace

Bruce Finch, Hampshire,