Gardiner: Brent children's services could be restored at less than the cost of one day's action in Libya

Barry Gardiner MP spoke again about Libya during the Budget debate making the link with cuts:

I did not support the Government in the Lobby on Monday night in the vote on military action in Libya. I pay tribute to our armed services, and to their valour and the work they do, but I cannot support the cost of the military escapade taking place in Libya, and I look to what could have been achieved if the funds being expended there were instead being expended around the rest of our country.

                       

One Tomahawk missile costs £350,000, and 140 of them were launched in the first 48 hours of the attack, which amounts to a cost of £50 million. It is estimated that the cost of prosecuting this military conflict is £6 million each day. The cost of one day of action in Libya could restore in its entirety the £2.25 million of cuts in children's services forced on my community in Brent by this Liberal-Conservative coalition Government. One month in Libya could protect children's services across the whole of London. Nine months in Libya could protect children's services across the entire UK. Aneurin Bevan once said that priorities is the language of socialism. Those are my priorities and that is why I will oppose this Budget.