Ainsworth admits 'tough choices' on defence budget but Trident will go-ahead

Britain's armed forces will have to co-operate more closely in future with international allies such as France to provide the full range of defence capabilities, Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth said today.

Publishing a Government green paper laying the ground for a full-scale strategic defence review after the general election, Mr Ainsworth warned that the forces face some "tough choices" in the years ahead.

The paper did not refer to specific programmes - apart from confirming the decision to go ahead with the £20 billion update of Britain's Trident nuclear deterrent.

But Mr Ainsworth said the "likelihood" was that the Royal Navy would still get its two planned new aircraft carriers, although he refused to be drawn on American-built Joint Strike Fighters (JSF) intended to fly from them.

He said the immediate priority for the forces remained the campaign in Afghanistan, with funding from the Treasury reserve set to increase from £3.5 billion this year to £5 billion next year.

In future the forces would not be able to "insure against every risk" and decisions would have to be taken on where the most important priorities lie.

"Tough choices will lie ahead and we need to rebalance our budget to better reflect our priorities," he said at a Ministry of Defence news conference.

"Defence must be more adaptable, able to respond quickly to the changes in the security environment and the character of conflict.

"We must increase our co-operation with our international partners to deliver defence more effectively and efficiently in order to make the best of our combined resources."

While the green paper emphasised that the United States remained Britain's most important ally, the UK would in future have to look to co-operate more widely with other countries.

"In Europe, the return of France to Nato's integrated military structures offers an opportunity for even greater co-operation with a key partner across a range of defence activity," it said.

Mr Ainsworth signalled that the commitment to the Navy's new aircraft carriers was unlikely to change as a result of the strategic defence review (SDR).

"While the whole of defence is in the review, we understand the commitments that we have already made and the likelihood that this will continue to be required in the future," he said.

"We ordered them a couple of years ago. We are already cutting the steel. That to some degree closes down our options."

But pressed on the JSF, which is running over budget and behind schedule, he refused to be specific, speaking only of the need for "enhanced" air support.

"We have seen in Afghanistan the need for adaptable capability in the Army but also the aviation and air support that is necessary to conduct this kind of operation," he said.

"I don't believe that any strategic defence review would not want to see that capability enhanced. Some of the tough choices and some of the issues that we are going to have to confront will be about trying to enhance that so that we can actually get more capability, not less.

"That is in the air domain as well as on land."