David Cameron to beef up National Security Council powers in defence review

NSC will be given an enhanced role overseeing the fight against terrorism and threats to the UK overseas

David Cameron listens to a briefing by a British army officer in Helmand Province (Getty)

David Cameron is to give the National Security Council beefed up powers to co-ordinate the work of the police, security services, GCHQ and the military as part of next week’s Strategic Defence and Security Review.

Under the plan the NSC, which already has a secretariat of around 200 civil servants, will be given an enhanced role overseeing the fight against terrorism and threats to the UK overseas that is currently shared across a number of different Government departments and agencies.

The move is part of a wider strategy to refocus defence and security spending to unconventional threats from groups such as Isis which pose both a domestic terrorist threat and a military target overseas.

While the budget overall will increase after the Prime Minister’s pledge to spend 2 per cent of GDP on defence, where that money is spent is likely to change significantly.

Chancellor George Osborne has already announced an increase in spending on the security services with an additional 1,900 staff and Mr Cameron said the SAS would get an additional £2bn. The Government will also announce that the money has been found to replace Trident. However, this means that despite the overall budget increases there are likely to be budget cuts in other areas of defence spending.

One source suggested that the MoD’s £3.5bn programme to buy 589 Scout armoured personal vehicles could be scaled back. There is also expected to be an enhanced role for the Joint Forces Command that currently co-ordinates MoD spending on areas such as training, IT systems and medical services between the army, navy and air force.

Whitehall sources said that while there would be no change to the traditional departmental reporting structures of the security services, giving the NSC a greater degree of responsibility for long-term strategic planning and setting priorities will be at the heart of the review.

The Independent reported last month that, as part of the changes, MI5 and MI6 could move out of their current headquarters to be housed in the same building. As well as cost savings this would allow a greater co-operation. However MI6 and GCHQ will still report to the Foreign Office with MI5 and the police terrorism command reporting to the Home Secretary.

Meanwhile, five ministries will bear the brunt of next week’s cuts, according to analysis. Four days before the Spending Review, cabinet ministers are said to be wrangling over the scale of economies. A Resolution Foundation think-tank report points to five “big losers”. The Home Office, Ministry of Justice, Department for Business and Department for Communities and Local Government face cuts averaging 30 per cent, it says. A similar cut is forecast in non-schools spending at the Department for Education.