We hear it endlessly; that arms exports and military spending is vital for the UK economy, providing highly skilled employment that is unavailable elsewhere.
There are many responses to this myth, but perhaps the most damning rebuttal has been provided by the arms industry itself. In September, the President of General Dynamics UK (also Vice President-Defence of the arms industry's trade association) was trying to make the case for continued high spending on arms. He told the parliamentary Defence Committee that
... the skills that might be divested of a reducing defence industry do not just sit there waiting to come back. They will be mopped up by other industries that need such skills.
The jobs argument doesn't hold up. But it continues to be used as one of the few means by which the Government and arms companies can rally public support for high levels of arms spending and indiscriminate arms exports.
Arms export figures and subsidies
0.2% of the UK workforce is employed in producing arms for export (sources here)
arms exports comprise 1.2% of total exports (sources here)
arms exports are subsidised by the
taxpayer to the tune of £700 million (total arms exports are around £5 billion
a year, profiting private companies)
Or, in the words of the Financial Times' Alan Beattie,
Financial Times, 10 August 2010
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