WHY WAS THE UKNDA FORMED?

Britain’s Armed Forces are chronically under-funded and over-stretched. Not since the 1930s have our Navy, Army and Air Force been so starved of the resources they need. Our forces have been slashed in half over the past two decades alone – yet in the same period our military commitments have vastly increased. This is a disaster for the men and women of our Armed Forces – and a catastrophe for our Nation.

Inadequate equipment means that lives have been lost unnecessarily. Pay and conditions for our servicemen and women have fallen well below those of their civilian equivalents – to the point where a traffic warden or cleaner can earn more than a soldier. And due to funding cuts, long-overdue improvements to housing for service families have been delayed or cancelled. The Nation’s Covenant with its Armed Forces has been broken.

Since the ‘credit crunch’, major defence projects have been delayed or cancelled in order to save money. While billions of pounds have been poured into propping up the financial services industry, defence funding has been severely cut back. Our politicians - both Labour and Conservative - are threatening further reductions. Cutting defence funding at a time of recession is like cancelling your insurance policy – You never know when it will be needed, and by then it will be too late!

The UKNDA has been formed to support our Armed Forces and to campaign for “sufficient, appropriate and fully funded Armed Forces to provide an effective defence of our country, its people, their security and vital interests wherever they may be.” We champion the cause of our nation’s brave servicemen and servicemen – of all ranks and across all three Services. We work to ensure that they have the right weapons and equipment, that they are properly paid, and that they and their families receive the care and respect they deserve.

The President of the UKNDA is Winston S. Churchill, journalist, author and former Parliamentarian, whose grandfather – in the “wilderness years” of the 1930s – was virtually a lone voice against the British government’s refusal to provide sufficient resources for the Nation’s defence. The UKNDA has the support of many senior and experienced figures from the military and public life, but our members are drawn from all walks of life, including many families and friends of servicemen and servicewomen.

Working together, as a team, we can bring pressure to bear on the politicians to put defence back at the top of the nation’s list of priorities. Our message to the UK’s politicians – on both sides of the House of Commons – is that we need (in the words of the Prime Minister who led Britain from 1940 to 1945): “ACTION THIS DAY!”

If you share our concern about the poor state of the Nation’s defences, and wish to show your support for the men and women of Britain’s Armed Forces, please join us and become part of a powerful national movement that the politicians cannot ignore.

To learn more about our campaign – and to join and help us – visit our website: www.uknda.org or write to us at: UKNDA, PO Box 819, Portsmouth PO1 9FF and we will send you an information pack.