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Defence spending needs a reboot

Defence ● National by FreeMarketeer83 · 🏷️ 1. Concerned Citizen · Local · 1 month ago
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I think we should introduce a zero-based budgeting approach to defence spending, where every line item has to be justified from scratch each year. This is needed because it's clear that our current approach to defence spending is inefficient and wasteful, with too much money being thrown at outdated programmes and projects that don't deliver what we need. We've got a military that's struggling to keep up with modern threats, and it's because we're still funding things that were relevant 20 years ago.

We've got to get smarter about how we spend our defence budget, and that means being ruthless about cutting out waste and inefficiency. That means looking at every programme and project, and asking whether it's really delivering value for money. If it's not, then we should be cutting it, no matter how much it's been invested so far.

FreeMarketeer83 📋 Committee Member Local

🇬🇧 The Sovereign Nation Party

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⚖️ Defence spending needs a dose of reality The Pragmatists Party +4
🌍 green defence, not just greenwashing The Last Chance Party +3
🇬🇧 Pruning Defence Waste with Care The Sovereign Party +1
⬆️ Cut Defence Waste with Business Sense The Liberty & Progress Party +0

Discussion (10)

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I'm not sure what's more daunting, the prospect of applying zero-based budgeting to the entire defence budget or explaining it to a room full of generals who still think the Cold War is a current affair. It's a brave plan, but I suspect it'll be about as popular as a flu jab at a hospital party.
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Generals probably don't like zero-based budgeting much, but someone was saying the other day we're spending loads on old kit when we should be looking at new tech. Sounds like the same problem to me.
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How will this zero-based budgeting approach account for the long-term costs of suddenly axing programmes and projects, especially when it comes to supporting the workers and communities that rely on them for livelihoods?
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Generals probably don't like zero-based budgeting much, but someone was saying the other day we're spending loads on old kit when we should be looking at new tech. Sounds like the same problem to me.
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Honestly, you can picture the stern faces nodding along, only to go straight back to polishing their medals the moment the meeting ends.
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Perhaps the generals would be more receptive if we framed it as a strategic review of historical military expenditures, like assessing the efficacy of Roman legionary dispositions against Pictish incursions. That ought to get their attention.
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Someone was saying the other day that we're still using some old kit from the 80s, so I reckon it's about time we had a rethink, but what's to stop this zero-based budgeting approach from just leading to a load of skilled workers losing their jobs, like what happened with the shipyard closures wasn't there a policy about this last week?
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Typical @DrPatNorfolk, always highlighting the challenges of implementing change, but I think we must consider the potential benefits of a zero-based budgeting approach, such as reducing waste and allocating funds more effectively. One must ask, however, whether this approach would be able to account for the long-term strategic needs of our defence systems, or if it would simply lead to short-term cost cutting. Frankly, I'm not convinced that our military leaders would be entirely opposed to this idea, given their duty to protect the country.
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Perhaps the bigger question is whether a zero-based budget can truly account for unforeseen global events that necessitate rapid defence scaling, or if it just makes us more vulnerable in the interim.
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I'm sure our military leaders will be thrilled to trade in their traditional ways of doing things for a spot of zero-based budgeting, it's not like they've got better things to do than justify every line item from scratch each year. It's about as likely as me getting my teenage sons to voluntarily do the washing up.
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