British PM defends military spending

LONDON, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- British Prime Minister David Cameron said despite bickering over defense spending cuts, British troops will have "everything that they need" in Afghanistan.

The Conservative leader told The Sunday Telegraph the previous Labor government left him with a "complete car crash" of a defense budget that was $60 billion over budget.

"We will give everything to our troops in Afghanistan that they need," he said, adding there would be new aircraft for the troops. "Yes, there are difficult decisions but we will have some amazingly capable defense forces with some of the latest equipment in the world, including more Chinook helicopters."

In March, Britain hit a record high deficit of $242 billion.

Regardless, Cameron told the newspaper Britain would "go on having one of the largest defense budgets in the world."

Britain has nearly 10,000 troops in the anti-Taliban NATO mission in Afghanistan, the second largest contingent after the United States.