Can We Afford To Keep The UK Safe?
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What recent warning did Lord Robertson give about UK security?
This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Order on Mother's Day on the 26th of April. Ifolor.fi. Where is it? I can't find anything here. Best before 2012. Red and no, no. Mother, where's the pill? DNA took your pills. What do you mean, DNA took them? Should I eat these pills without a synapse? DNA-free is a new era of connection through safe internet connection. Welcome back, Chris Mason. Hello.
Hello. Are you rested after your Easter break? I think I'm supposed to say I'm recharged and ready to go. No, but I am, actually. I had a nice break. It was all good. And, you know, the winter election campaigns and all of that, there's no shortage of news about.
Well, your first gig, I noticed, was the Scottish leaders debate on Sunday night.
Yeah, Paisley Town Hall on Sunday evening. Fascinating six-way debate. There's another one to come in Wales that will be six-way as well in a couple of weeks' time. And all the debates going on in England, too. So, yeah, you can't beat election campaigns. And, yes, there's more than one this time.
And you're also back to another old chestnut, which is a row about defence spending.
Yeah. And, you know, one that we're familiar with, aren't we? Because there's a wider conversation going on and has been for some time at Westminster amongst plenty of political parties around, you know, how do we have a societal conversation about the prospect of increasing defence spending and then with what trade-offs, with what trade-offs for taxes, with what trade-offs for other spending. That's been going on for a while, not least because of the context of the Ukraine war and then sharpened, I think, in the... context of the conflict in iran because of the economic consequences it has in the short to medium term that we'll come on to discuss but then the questions that it raises again and have been raised again uh today uh by lord robertson the former labor defense secretary the former secretary general of nato saying that he thinks the government is complacent so and
You know, that is a sharpening of that argument, isn't it? And I guess it's then harder for governments to make an argument about spending more, frankly, on anything but on defence when the economy is struggling and has been for some time and with indications today that the war is going to make things harder still.
Well, Chris, keep your powder dry on that issue because we're going to be digging into it in depth in this episode of Newscast. But before we do that, we're going to unveil our new edition of our opening titles. And as is traditional, Chris, you have to work out how many people are in it. Okay. Take it away. Right. So, I think we've got...
So there was the guy from NASA, number one. I think it was Mark Carney, the Canadian Prime Minister, number two. Number three, I didn't quite catch. Number four, I think it was Keir Starmer. Number five was Donald Trump. And then I missed one or two. Then there was Kemi Badenoch, and then there was Nigel Farage. So one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. I'm going to say nine. Were there nine in total?
Oh, I actually haven't kept track of how many there are, but you didn't get them all, which means there were a few spots for Newscast listeners to guess. And if you can identify the voices that Chris did not, then you can let us know, newscast at bbc.co.uk, or you can WhatsApp us on 0330 123 9480 and see if you can beat Chris Mason. Which I'm sure you can. Right, shall we get on with today's episode? Yes. Right. Well, help us to unpick this big story about defence spending.
How is the Iran war affecting the UK's economic stability?
We're joined by Ben Chu, who's Policy and Analysis Correspondent at BBC Verify. Hello, Ben. Hello, Adam. I always just thought of you as Ben from BBC Verify. I didn't realise there were so many... Well, you can call me whatever you like. Policy Analysis is pretty good. And also Helen Miller, who's Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies is here. Hello again, Helen. Hello. Right. Chris, before we dig into the details of the argument around defence spending, why is everyone talking about it today, Tuesday, the 14th of April?
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What recent warning did Lord Robertson give about UK security?
0:00–4:19
2
How is the Iran war affecting the UK's economic stability?
4:19–10:30
3
What are the implications of increasing defense spending?
10:30–15:51
4
What criticisms did Lord Robertson make about the current government?
15:51–21:50
5
What are the current statistics regarding UK defense spending?
21:50–25:39
6
How does welfare spending compare to defense spending in the UK?
25:39–29:39
7
What challenges does the UK face in balancing defense and welfare budgets?
29:39–33:31