Editorial: Best defence

Prime Minister David Cameron will be seeking permission from MPs to broaden the attack on Islamic State (IS) by attacking them in their strongholds in Syria.  At the moment British forces, following the parliamentary vote earlier this year, are only able to target IS in Iraq. But Cameron, following the attack in Tunisa, now wants British jets to join the air campaign in Syria as well. Now, I support the Prime Minister but he should think twice about cutting the defence budget yet again if he wants British forces to broaden their campaign. The Royal Air Force is desperately short of combat aircraft. The problem is so serious that the RAF can only  muster a handful of combat aircraft. I have said this on many occasions in this space. I do not understand how the British government can ask British servicemen and women to go into battle when they are not equipped for the task. The Cameron administration has been especially brutal with the British armed services. The Royal Navy and Royal Air Force saw their numbers slashed and now the British army faces yet more cuts. Now Chancellor George Osborne will say that cuts need to be made to government spending to bring down the deficit. Which is fine, but don´t ask the Royal Air Force to do a task which they are not equipped to perform. Until the government spends more on defence then Britain should just take a back seat and allow others to do the job, because they have the equipment.