Would you pay more tax to boost defence spending

[trainermush]

Obviously we are now in a more precarious position & defence spending has been underfunded for some time. RR had just said we need to spend more money & she will but without breaking her fiscal rules,

"So we will stick to our fiscal rules. But recognising the priority of defence spending in the world that we live in today means that we will have to make difficult choices so that we can spend that money that is needed to keep our country safe."

Mulling it over & even though I think I pay enough tax I would pay more each month towards this (cut back in other areas) as opposed to labour cutting back on something else. I guess thinking about my dc & other loved ones has changed my mind somewhat now things appear more bleak. What do others think?
Conscription of young people terrifies me even though my dc are too young.

That’s because they’ve got waaaay more money.

I think we are going to have too. When I studied the 2nd World war in the 80s it seems like a different world in the past, But it stuck we recently that more time has passed since I studied the 2nd world war than had actually passed between the war and that history lesson.

Nobody got rid of him. He retired as an MP and even if he hadn’t his party lost the election.

Ukraine has run out of time. Its over.

Its Europe that is now in danger of running out of time. Increased defence spending needs to happen NOW. Not in 2027, not in 2025, not even this October. NOW.

Neither of those seem like water tight reasons for Putin not to invade.

Not sure if you’d noticed but we were talking in a hypothetical ‘if I could choose someone’ way

"Ukraine has run out of time. Its over.

Its Europe that is now in danger of running out of time. Increased defence spending needs to happen NOW. Not in 2027, not in 2025, not even this October. NOW."

Maybe I'm naive but I'm not prepared to give up on Ukraine yet.

But if I'm wrong (and I hope I'm not) then if anything good to come out of it might be that it serves as a wake up call to Europe.

However sadly I think it won't with the likes of France and Germany saying well OK Russia has now attacked Lithuania but hey it's not us. And Spain and Italy saying well OK Russia has now attacked Germany but hey it's not us.

This is the modern appeasement - at least with Trump he's transparent about it.

I was responding to MsConduct, not you. And there’s absolutely no need for rudeness.

I agree, they are far from watertight.

However I don’t think he has the ability to do so.

The Ukrainian war showed us it is relatively straightforward to sink a Russian amphibious landing ship.

He would need many and he doesn’t have them or the troops to put on them

I think there is more chance of being attacked by Danes in longboats

Every time somebody posts something you construe as unflattering to Starmer you post a spiky reply. I’m not the one being rude.

The Starmer defensiveness does get a bit much

TBF Wallace was respected, if indeed he was, by Biden and his team...

Germany is now spending more on defence than the UK, they increased spend, whilst people like Wallace reduced it.

The UK also spends a large proportion of its budget on Trident, a system that seems to have less and less significance as time goes by... i mean, are we really capable of using it or even threatening too without Trumps say so? hardly likely and Putin will know that.

I don't believe Starmer got rid of Wallace did he? though in Toryland, perhaps he did.... after all, our weak military are down to Starmer according to the opposition shadow ministers....

And? It's not your money. You didn't earn it.

Amazing how people seem to think they should be entitled to the wealth of strangers but will come on here crying that they've had a promotion at work and feel like declining it as they're now no better off due to the increased tax. 🤔

Yes.
Sadly anyone who thinks this isn’t our problem is living in cloud cuckoo land.
Is this the world we want? No - but sadly it’s the world we have. In a heartbeat I would do this to protect mine and your children’s future.

Macron wanted the next head of NATO to be an EU member. And Biden didn't support Ben Wallace. Although Ben Wallace wanted the job and would have been highly suitable (particularly for us obviously).

I didn’t mention Starmer and don’t think I have done. You were extremely rude and appear to be under the illusion that I think this government can do no wrong. Actually I’m disappointed in its performance to date, I just hope it starts doing better in this crisis.

Well I apologise if I got the wrong end of the stick but the ‘his party lost the election’ was rather patronising when we were clearly just mooting people we thought would do a better job than Starmer. As was mimicking PP’s tone with the ‘waaaay more money’. I would say you should only dole out the acerbic responses if you’re happy to receive them.

The Defence Strategy Commission has already warned that the US would be likely to lose a future war against China and Russia if they don't upgrade their defences though.

Didn’t the Tories lose the election? I thought it was a statement of fact. My posts aren’t acerbic, it’s my posting style and if you don’t like it ignore me. I won’t be remotely offended.

We didn’t. Politically it needed to stay in the hands of someone from the EU to avoid the appearance that the US and the Brits were dominating the alliance. So Stoltenberg stayed in place.

I think we're going to have to pay more - and that we won't have much of a choice about it until the next general election. Though I'm worried Reform will do well then, whatever version & name it takes at that point.

Though where will the money come from? I can only think of social security spending, and higher taxes on leisure/hospitality.

What a grim time.

Yes agree, those reasons aren't really it but this is correct too

Though where will the money come from? I can only think of social security spending, and higher taxes on leisure/hospitality.

Stopping the boats? 😂

I think that's an innovative way to look at the problem. I think lots of young people would sign up as reservists if they were supported to access engineering, cyber security, medical careers etc without paying fees.

I wonder that the real defense needed is less about physical power or conscription and more about defending against economic power/media/people placed in strategic positions. Is there more than one way to take over a country/neutralise it? How much of everything is a ruse or distraction?