Paul Ingram, No. 2 on the Green Party’s list in London for Thursday’s European elections and a defence policy analyst, is to outline on Channel Four news the level of tax-payer support given to UK arms exporters, in particular through the Export Credit Guarantees Department (ECGD).
Paul Ingram has been working with his brother, Mark Ingram, an expert in International Finance, to expose the level of subsidy given by ECGD in particular, and the financial risk exposure accepted by the government on behalf of arms exporters. Half of last year’s export credits were awarded for arms exports. The Ingram brothers have worked closely with government officials and economists in ECGD and the Treasury to develop their model. They both gave written and oral evidence to the Trade and Industry Committee in April of this year, and suggest that the cost of subsidies to ECGD could be of the order of £500m a year. The challenge to government is now to close this practice of providing tax-payer support to a handful of privileged companies exporting dangerous technology to unstable countries.
Paul Ingram said, "The myth that arms exports are good for the economy and for jobs must now be abandoned. Though they disagree on the level of subsidies, economists on both sides of the debate agree that the economic basis for arms export support is weak at best. The Green Party is clear that support must be entirely withdrawn and the investment redirected to train tens of thousands more nurses and teachers, and in developing renewable energy. We believe this is one of the most stark examples of successive governments backing the wrong horse to the detriment of this country."
Mark Thomas, Comedian and political activist who is supporting the Greens said, "The one defence put up by the arms industry is that of saving jobs. Not only is this morally untenable but thanks to the work of people like Paul Ingram, it is shown to be completely false."
Paul published an in depth report on the level of subsidies in 2001, estimating them to be at least £420m a year. This preceded by six months a report written by MoD economists that suggested that "the economic costs of reducing defence exports are relatively small and largely one-off".
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Notes to editors
Recent opinion polls suggest that the Greens could win two seats in London in this week’s European elections.
‘The Subsidy Trap: British Government Financial Support to Arms Exports and the Defence Industry’, Oxford Research Group and Saferworld, July 2001.
Malcolm Chalmers (Bradford), Neil Davies (MoD), Keith Hartley (York) and Chris Wilkinson (MoD); University of York Centre for Defence Economics, November 2001, paragraph 86, page 33(available for download from: www.york.ac.uk
Paul Ingram 36 lives in Southwark with his wife and baby son.
He is former Co-Leader of Oxford City Council where he was responsible for turning the finances of the Council from a drastic overspend situation, appointing a new Chief Executive and senior management team, and modernising the Council decision making structures (introducing Area Committees and devolving much of the Councils decision making to local communities). He was personally responsible for switching the Council’s electricity consumption to green energy sources.
Paul Ingram is also Senior Analyst at the British American Security Information Council and frequently appears in the media for comment and analysis on current security issues. He is author of The Subsidy Trap.
Darren Johnson is 38 and was selected as the Green Party’s candidate for Mayor of London in May 2003. He was elected to the London Assembly in May 2000 where he is Leader of the Green Party Group. He was also elected to Lewisham Council in May 2002.
The Mayoral election will be held on June 10th at the same time as the elections for the London Assembly and the European Parliament. At the last Assembly elections the Greens scored one of their best ever results in the Party’s history, securing 11.1% of the vote across London and winning three seats on the 25-member Assembly.
Darren Johnson’s vision for a sustainable Green London can be found on his website www.johnsonformayor.org.uk
Jean Lambert is London’s Green Member of the European Parliament and she is No 1 on the list for the London Green Party. Her website is www.jeanlambertmep.org.uk
Green Party Assembly Members are Cllr. Darren Johnson AM, Deputy Mayor Jenny Jones AM and Noel Lynch AM