A simple solution to the MoD’s budget shortfall | Letters
Your report (11 May) about the MoD's 21bn budget shortfall is yet another reminder that the UK desperately needs "lower cost" complementary efforts that reduce security threats in the long term. With global conflict at its highest level in 30 years, the UK should invest in sustainable solutions to resolving conflict, that go beyond putting a lid on the problem as our adventures in Iraq and Libya have shown and the Chilcot inquiry made clear. This can be achieved through investing in peacebuilding - interventions that deal with the root causes of conflict - both in policy and financial terms. Every US$1 invested in peacebuilding potentially leads to a US$16 decline in the cost of armed conflict. No small change, when the total losses from armed conflict stand at US$1.04trn annually. Peacebuilding is effective, cost-effective and popular according to polls - and it would help with the MoD's funding problem. What's not to like?
Harriet Lamb
CEO of peacebuilding charity International Alert
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