Future government spending - defence not rail, road and hospital?

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From the Daily Mail

STEPHEN GLOVER: Forget new railways... In a post-Brexit world, we simply MUST spend more on defence

A long article ...

... I hope that Mr Johnson will draw his eyes away from splashing out tens of billions of pounds on new railways, roads and hospitals, and dramatically reverse the relentless chipping away at our defence capabilities by successive governments.

I doubt even Labour would oppose such a policy. The patriotic people in the North and Midlands who voted Tory for the first time last month would cheer him on.

[CyclingSid]

Not another aircraft carrier! Cut in the number of senior staff officers would save a lot, see https://www.amazon.co.uk/Losing-Small-Wars-Military-Afghanistan/dp/0300182740 for a fairly scathing critique.

[ChrisB]

Also, Corbyn would give up nuclear deterrent (and many other offensive equipment) - Labour want to be able to defend our shores but launch no offesive attacks anywhere - so that guy is wrong on stating Labour would support additional spending....

[stuving]

There was a piece in yesterday's Times saying just the opposite - that all big projects were being reviewed to see what could be cut. Dominic Cummings's previous comments about "disastrous" spending on military projects was mentioned, and those "two aircraft carriers, at a cost of £6.2 billion" in particular.

HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) was also, and inevitably, on the table, but the reason for saving money was so as to steer more of it to the new electoral targets - such as the NHS, and the "new Tory" areas in the north and Midlands where railways are certainly on their shopping lists.

But this was all based on Dominic-watching, a new skill that the commentariat are still learning.

[Robin Summerhill]

HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) was also, and inevitably, on the table, but the reason for saving money was so as to steer more of it to the new electoral targets - such as the NHS, and the "new Tory" areas in the north and Midlands where railways are certainly on their shopping lists.

Bearing in mind that the Midlands and North are quite keen on HS2, binning it now might not go down too well in the "new Tory" areas.