{"id":24255,"date":"2020-04-15T14:58:07","date_gmt":"2020-04-15T14:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/04\/15\/uk-hits-pause-on-defense-review-due-to-coronavirus\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:05:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:05:30","slug":"uk-hits-pause-on-defense-review-due-to-coronavirus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2020\/04\/15\/uk-hits-pause-on-defense-review-due-to-coronavirus\/","title":{"rendered":"UK hits pause on defense review due to coronavirus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

LONDON \u2014 The British government has hit the pause button on its integrated defense review<\/a> as it pours its efforts into battling the coronavirus crisis, Cabinet Office officials have told the parliamentary Defence Committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Cabinet Office has informed the defence select committee that work on the integrated review<\/a> has been formally paused across Whitehall,\u201d the committee announced April 15.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Committee chair Tobias Ellwood said in a statement that the move by the Cabinet Office, the department leading the review, was the right move to take given the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere would be no point in conducting an in-depth review of the nation\u2019s defence and security challenges to an artificial deadline, especially at a time when Whitehall is rightly focusing on tackling conronavirus,\u201d Ellwood said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The recently appointed Defence Committee chair said that when the review restarts it will have to do so \u201cwith the added consequences of the pandemic to be considered.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t