Troops' equipment is 'nothing but best' says Brown despite military chiefs' complaints

The equipment available to British troops in the field is better than it has been for years, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said today.

In a Christmas interview with British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS), Mr Brown said the UK's Armed Forces deserved "nothing but the best" in terms of kit, and said he wanted to make sure they got it.

Mr Brown said that this year's Comprehensive Spending Review settlement meant the Ministry of Defence was guaranteed year-on-year real-terms increases in funding, a situation which he contrasted with 20 per cent cuts over the course of the early 1990s.

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The Prime Minister was last month savaged by a group of five former military chiefs in the House of Lords, who accused him of failing to provide troops with the resources needed to do the job asked of them.

Former Chief of Defence Staff General Lord Guthrie attacked Mr Brown directly for being "unsympathetic" towards the armed forces as Chancellor.

But Mr Brown said it was "totally unfair" to portray him as being uninterested in the military, either at the Treasury or 10 Downing Street.

He acknowledged that "everybody will say that there is more we could do or should do".

But he told BFBS: "Over the last few years, despite difficult circumstances... we have tried our best not only to give decent settlements so that there is the money to do everything necessary, but also where there is an urgent operational requirement we changed the system a year or two ago so that the equipment can get there more quickly...

"I think the evidence on the ground is that the equipment people have is a lot better than it was a few years

ago. Of course, we want it to be even better in future years as well."

Mr Brown said he was responding to pleas from troops in Iraq and Afghanistan for more armoured vehicles to provide protection against landmines, as well as more helicopters, which he acknowledged were currently a "weakness".

And he pointed to a "huge programme" of spending on military hardware, including new aircraft carriers, and infrastructure to support servicemen and women.

Troops in the field had benefited from a new £2,300 Operational Allowance and council tax reductions, as well as better access to email and telephones, and £5 billion was being spent on armed forces accommodation in the UK, he said.

Armed forces pay settlements were in many cases "higher than public sector pay at home, and rightly so".

Britain's servicemen and women were "so dedicated that they deserve nothing but the best," said the Prime Minister, adding: "I want it to be the best that they have, in terms of equipment."

But he made clear that military chiefs would not be given carte blanche to call on new resources when competing for Treasury funding with other Government priorities like the NHS and schools.

"You never get everything you want when you are negotiating, on one side or the other, and there is always an issue to be resolved," he said.

"It will always be the case, if there is a discussion about more or less, I would expect - and respect - people who say 'We need this or that'.

"The question is, given all the other responsibilities we have - the health service, education - and given the danger our troops face, are we making the right provision?"

But he added: "As far as money is concerned, I want people to understand that of course these are difficult decisions, but every year the budget for the Ministry of Defence is going to go up over the next two years and every year in real terms it will be more...

"We have tried, in stretching circumstances, with economic pressures, to build the budget up and we will continue to do what we are doing with urgent operational requirements so the forces have the equipment."

Mr Brown said that Britain owed a "special debt of gratitude" over the Christmas period to armed forces personnel serving their country away from home and family.

He hailed the "sheer bravery and dedication and professionalism and commitment to service" shown by members of the armed forces, and repeated his call for local communities to mark their appreciation with parades on their return from tours of duty.

He said he believed the public were "starting to understand" that progress was being made in Iraq with the handover of security responsibility in Basra to local authorities this month.

"It is dangerous and undoubtedly there are still major security questions to be resolved, but our forces have made progress and I am proud of what they have achieved over the last month as well as over the last few years," he said.

In Afghanistan, he said it would be possible for the first time, in coming years, to extend ordinary Afghan people's control over their own affairs at a national and local level.

He hailed the recent victory in Musa Qala, where "we turned back the Taliban as a result of the bravery of our forces", with the support of Afghan government troops.

"We are training them up for the future in a way which I think shows the progress that can be made over the next few years," said the Prime Minister.