Will the coming defence cuts cost Britain its role on the world stage?

HAVE YOUR SAY

No, because self obsessed politicians like to grand stand on the world stage, so where most other European countries hide their heads in the sand if there is fighting to do we do not. We will be there, our place in the UNSC P5 demands it, and the government would never willingly give that up.

All these cuts will mean is doing more with even less, the same story over the last 20 years.
If UK forces are there with say the US and others are not then we are indeed on the world stage.
Daniele Mandelli - Guildford

We are heading for a major defeat like Crete or Singapore in WW2. The public may not want to pay for defence, but opinion can change overnight & they will not vote for politicians that lead them to National humiliation.
UK armed forces have been cut by at least 40% since 1990. Have we done that to schools, hospitals, overseas aid? No.
Where is the modern Churchill to call for re-armament?
We got little warning of the Falklands or Kuwait. Chances are, we will have to fight with what little is left.
There is a naval arms race in the Far East, never mentioned here.
John Hartley - Woking/Surrey/UK

We cannot rely on soft power to safeguard our national interests if we do not have the military clout to back this up. Do politicians reflect on history when making these decisions as the current climate seems to be a re-run of the 1930,s except this time with multiple threats to our national interests.

There is plenty of money to fund an armed forces with sufficiant resources to protect this country, but politicians find it politically acceptable to mothball ships and planes instead of reforming the bloated welfare system or cutting aid programmes to countries like India.
dc - essex

We've been here before, in 1730 when Richard Leveridge wrote "The Roast Beef of Old England" he lamented:

"But since we have learned from effeminate France to eat their ragouts as well as to dance, we are fed up with nothing but vain complaisance..."

He concludes his lament about our glorious past:

"Oh then we had stomachs to eat and to fight, and when wrongs were cooking to set ourselves right; but now we're a-hm! - I could but good-night. Oh the roast beef of Old England! and oh, for Old England's roast beef!"

Says it all really - stand up for yourself or sink under the vacuous squabbling of weak and devious "friends"... Not to mention that defence spending keeps astonishingly good engineering skills present in these islands.
Michael Smith - Hertfordshire

Remember the headline a few years ago. "we are no longer Great Britain but Little England" The greatness has been taken out by blinkered politicians who deep down couldn't give a damn about our Armed Forces.
Bob Griffiths - West Midlands UK

If Britain's role in the world is only dependent on military power we are a very sad nation indeed. Israel and North Korea are among the most capable military powers in the world yet have dreadful global reputations and thus minimal ability to influence events.

Nations like Canada and Australia use their relationships and influence to play strong roles globally and are respected by all for this. The UK could do likewise it it chose to.
Martin - London

Do you think the FSB's new thought controls (report in the Telegraph) would ever be applied across Russia's borders to foreign nationals or states? Which would tend to make you think 'ftao fsb fu ok fab - (thunderbirds are a go-go)'.
Chris - Keighley

Osbourne and Cameron simply do not understand what is happening in the world and will sacrifice one of the few jewels this country has left for short term gain.
Graham Sidle - Diss Private

The UK only matters if it has hard power to back up soft power.
We are of no use to anyone without hard power that's where influence derives. Cameron is strutting around the world stage pretending to be important while having little influence on world leaders.
And the US has little interest in us while we talk big and carry a very small stick.
The Tories will decimate our armed forces and finish the job labour started.
Graham - High Wycombe

George Osbournes comment that he fails to see "what is so different about defence" when it comes to spending cuts shows us that he isn't fit to hold th position of chancellor. It needs to be a prerequisite of a great office of state that you need to understand the consequences of the choices you make. I bet he doesn't know how Few or the poor quality of the ships we we have left in the navy or the paucity of our air transport assets in the RAF.
The difference between Defence and other govt depts is that defence has been mismanaged for years. It's a dept which has been hamstrung by a leadership vacuum for over a decade. Political mismanagement has led to a dept which is not fit for purpose.
The priority now is not to deliver arbitrary spending cuts. The priority now is to fix what is broken, and there is an awful lot broken.
The defence review should be an opportunity. If the govt is bold it could deliver savings and fix our capability gaps. However if it's aim is just to provide justification for an arbitary percentage budget cut imposed by the treasury then it should be opposed with all possible vigour. The politicians who make such decisions should be made accountable and rightly vilified.
David Bevan - UK

We lost that role when Wilson sold our first carrier fleet and Heath sold us off to the EU Marxist regime.
Fez - in the desert, Egypt