Cutting foreign aid to fund defence is a false economy

BRITAIN’S security does not start at our borders. It starts upstream. I’m a veteran — I know.

- Garrath Williams

BRITAIN’S security does not start at our borders. It starts upstream. I’m a veteran — I know. During my career in both the British and Australian Army, I operated in and prepared others to serve in places where, if instability was left unchecked and early ‘warning signs ignored, we might have paid a heavier price.

Veterans understand from experience that humanitarian action, peacekeeping and combat operations exist on the same continuum, each influencing the success or failure of the others.

During my time on peace keeping and support missions in Kosovo and the Solomon Islands, and in Afghanistan, as well as conducting domestic and humanitarian assistance tasks, I have witnessed this first hand.

Governments should recognise this operational reality and ensure that humanitarian and security planning are developed in concert if they are to achieve lasting strategic effect.

I recently joined more than 50 other veterans - men and women who have served across every operational setting you could name — in a letter to the now outgoing Prime Minister telling him something we know from hard experience.

Britain’s security begins in fragile parts of the world, where, if we invest early, we can prevent the crises that later demand military force at far greater cost.