MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The newly reelected prime minister also vowed to replace the Royal Navy’s four Vanguard-class submarines with four new ballistic missile submarines, as well as retain the UK's Scotland-based Trident nuclear deterrent system.
Additionally, the party under Cameron's leadership has promised not to reduce the country's regular armed services to below 82,000 personnel.
"I'm afraid what tends to happen is the politicians like to talk big on the international stage but they don't like to put their money where their mouth is," Julian Lewis was quoted as saying by the Telegraph.
The candidate for the UK parliament's powerful Defense Committee chairman post added that the struggle to "reach the 2 percent minimum when we should be exceeding it is a scandal."
Col. Bob Stewart, another Tory lawmaker vying for the spot underscored the United States' expectation for the United Kingdom as a "beacon" in Europe.
"We have already seen them saying look, we are really worried that the Brits aren't putting enough money into defense," Stewart was cited by the publication.
The third candidate for the Defense Committee's chairmanship, Richard Benyon, said Cameron "made virtue of the fact" the country kept a NATO-mandated threshold of 2 percent of GDP on defense spending.
"I do not see how we can address the threats we face without sticking to that figure," Benyon was quoted as saying by the Telegraph.
Over the last five years in power, Cameron has increased budgets for security and intelligence agencies, pledging in this month's general election campaign to invest at least $242 billion in new military equipment.
