PMQ: Armed Forces

The United Kingdom Parliament met together for the weekly Prime Minister’s Questions Time. Labor Party and Opposition Leader Sir Keir Starmer asked six questions to Prime Minister and Conservative Party Leader Boris Johnson regarding the recent changes to the Armed Services.

Starmer opened up by reflecting on the 126,000 people who had lost their lives to COVID-19. He believed there needed to be a public investigation to look at the mistakes that happened during the pandemic.

He transitioned and asked Johnson about the recent cut to the armed services. He said that Johnson had promised in the past that the armed forces would not be cut.

Johnson made clear on his objective.

“We’re doing what is necessary to modernize our armed forces,” he said. This budget included upgrading the nuclear deterrent, £24 billion invested into the combat air system, and £1.3 billion to upgrade the challenger’s main battle tanks.

 His plan would also keep the army at 100,000 soldiers. This would include reserves.

Starmer pointed out the cuts that Johnson had made.

“He cut the British Army by 10,000, he cut the number of tanks, he cut the number of planes for our REF, and he cut the number of ships for the royal navy,” he said.

Johnson said that he had actually increased spending by 14%. He did admit that he had to make some tough decisions, but he did so because he believed in the armed forces.

Starmer said that Johnson played with the numbers. He said that Johnson knew that the numbers for the armed services had been cut.

“The trouble is that you just can’t trust the conservatives to protect our armed forces,” he said.

He had mention that since 2010, military had been cut by 45,000. This was the largest cut to the military in the past 300 years. He said that with smaller numbers in the military, it would be difficult to fight against worldwide issues such as genocide.

Johnson pointed out that he believed in the strength in the military. He said that Starmer and the Labor Party were too weak to protect the country.

Starmer said that Johnson was weak for breaking his promise to the armed forces right before election. He pointed out a lot of the promises he had broken.

He broke his promise to the NHS by giving nurses a pay cut. He also promised tax guarantees but raised taxes for families.

Johnson said the armed forces had been increased since the Cold War. For the NHS, 60,000 more nurses were in training. Their salary was increased by 12.8%.

Furthermore, he had recruited more police while the Labor focused on trying to kill the bill on police recruitment.

“We’re pro-vax, Mr. Speaker, we’re low tax, and when it comes to defense, we got your backs,” he said.

Other Members of Parliament asked questions to Johnson during the remainder of the PMQs.