Britain’s entitlement culture has won, and we’re all paying the price

[A]nother defence review is threatening to hollow out our armed services still further. General Sir Richard Barrons, the former commander of Joint Forces Command, recently told the Commons defence select committee that there were “existential risks” to the UK which the Armed Forces were unable to deal with. He said the military needs an additional £2 billion a year or it could simply “fall over”.

On Budget Day, a brighter light than usual is shone upon the spending choices that we make as a nation, or rather the choices that are made on our behalf…

They would also rather know that the country had a proper army, navy and air force and was not cheeseparing on defence. Unlike healthcare or education these are not things we can buy for ourselves. Yet we now prioritise entitlements over necessities.

Since Labour came to office in 1997, the number of schemes that involve entitlement spending has soared. Free television and travel passes for the elderly; winter fuel allowances; free nursery schooling; free school meals; help with childcare costs; payments for staying on at school; and a huge expansion of overseas aid.

We now spend the same on financing our debt as on defence, more on housing benefit than policing and we have ring-fenced the aid budget. How much of the £40 billion that we are about to hand over to the EU will be gobbled up by extraordinarily generous pensions paid for by taxpayers who cannot afford such largesse for themselves?