Ben Wallace, the UK Defence Secretary, has said the British <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/armed-forces/" target="_blank">army</a> has been "neglected" over the past two decades. <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/uk-news/2022/11/12/uk-defence-secretary-ben-wallace-calls-russias-retreat-from-kherson-a-strategic-failure/" target="_blank">Mr Wallace's</a> comments to <i>The Sun</i> come only a few weeks after Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced in the <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/uk-news/2022/11/17/autumn-statement-2022-3/" target="_blank">autumn statement</a> that the <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/military-and-defense/" target="_blank">defence</a> budget would remain at 2 per cent of GDP at the least. The secretary has long backed increased <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/defence/" target="_blank">defence</a> spending but ambitions have been apparently scaled back under Prime Minister <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/rishi-sunak" target="_blank">Rishi Sunak’s</a> new administration amid tough decisions on public spending. Mr Sunak's short-lived predecessor <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/liz-truss" target="_blank">Liz Truss</a> had pledged to spend 3 per cent of GDP on defence by 2030. “We’re investing £24 billion ($29 billion) into the army’s equipment programme between now and the end of the decade," Mr Wallace said. “That’s a lot of money. Because quite rightly, the army needs to catch up. “It has been neglected by quite a few people over the last two decades, I’d say at least. So it needs to be modernised. “We need to rapidly look at the lessons of <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/ukraine/" target="_blank">Ukraine</a> because they have actually given us an opportunity to see not only where we’re vulnerable, but actually have you got the balance of investment right within the army.”
