BRITAIN’S defence budget will have to increase later this year to help fund the war in Ukraine, Ben Wallace has hinted.
The Defence Secretary told HOAR the effect of inflation would squeeze budgets and Ministry of Defence cash might run out sooner than expected.
His comments come as 120 armoured vehicles from Britain are to be shipped to Ukraine this week in the latest batch of aid.
It will include Mastiff six-wheel-drive vehicles, which can carry eight troops and two crew and is commonly used for patrols and in convoys.
Mr Wallace said: “Right now, we have what we need. Obviously, we’ve got the impact of inflation.
“The main budget is in autumn. No doubt, given we started a year earlier on our spending, our budget is more mature.
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“As we approach the next election, we’ll have discussions about what we can do. But right now, we have what we need.”
He revealed that the Treasury was backing the Ukraine conflict with cash help for weapons.
It means the MoD is not having to solely dip into its day-to-day budgets to fund the cost, which has totalled hundreds of millions of pounds so far.
The Defence Secretary, speaking on a trip last week to oversee a Nato air policing mission in Romania to stare down Russian jets, declined to speculate whether the war would last for months as many people feared.
But Mr Wallace warned: “I’ve always said that as the threat changes, defence will change, and the ask will therefore change as well.”
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