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The Independent
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
British people are not safe and the country is underprepared for war, security chief warns
A former Nato general secretary has warned that Britain and its people are not safe, and that the country is not prepared for war. Lord Robertson of Port Ellen told told Parliament that Britain is is lacking in ammunition, training, people, logistics, and medical capacity, that being underprepared for war is an 'understatement'. He told the upper chamber: 'Bearing in mind the difficult world that we live in and have to survive in, this is what I firmly believe: we are underinsured, we are underprepared, we are not safe. 'This country and its people are not safe. 'The British people are faced with a world in turmoil, with great power competitions spilling over now into conflict, with constant grey zone attacks on our mainland, and with Russia – often with the co-operation of Iran China and North Korea – challenging the existing world order. 'We simply in this country are not safe.' The Labour peer co-wrote the Strategic Defence Review (SDR) alongside the former commander of the joint forces command, General Sir Richard Barrons, and defence adviser Dr Fiona Hill. Artificial intelligence, drones and a £1 billion investment in homeland missile defence all form part of the review's plan to keep the UK safe in the face of threats from Vladimir Putin's Russia and the rise of China. As peers debated the review on Friday, Lord Robertson said: 'When we say in the report that we are unprepared, it is an understatement. 'We don't have the ammunition, the training, the people, the spare parts, the logistics, and we don't have the medical capacity to deal with the mass casualties that we would face if we were involved in high-intensity warfare. 'Over the years, and I suppose I must plead guilty to that as well, we took a substantial peace dividend, because we all believed that the world had changed for the better.' He continued: 'Sadly, we were not alone in that. There may have been over-optimism, but at worst, wishful thinking, but the brutal, full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Putin's Russia three years ago was a savage wake-up call for all of us. 'This world we now live in has changed out of all recognition, and we have got to change as well.' Lord Robertson told the upper chamber he is 'confident' the review will 'intimidate our enemies, inspire our friends, invigorate our defence industry, and make our country safer'. Conservative shadow defence minister Baroness Goldie pressed the Government to be specific about the amount of money and timing needed for defence spending to reach 3% of GDP. She said: 'In this exciting and brave new world for defence, the elephant in the room is money, and none of this excellent aspiration proposed by the review means anything without attaching pound signs to the proposals. 'Ambition must translate into specific financial commitment.' Former military chief Lord Stirrup said the Government's spending would need to be restructured to be 'anywhere near 3.5% of GDP for defence by 2035'. 'There is no sign of any urgency on any side of the political divide on addressing this crucial matter,' the crossbench peer added. Former top diplomat Lord Hannay of Chiswick said forms of soft power such as overseas aid and the BBC World Service should be prioritised alongside hard power. 'We really do need to take another look at the hard power soft power balance, recognising that we need them both,' the crossbench peer said. Conservative former defence minister Lord Soames of Fletchling said the British people needed to be told what they should do in the event of a cyber attack that knocked out the internet and phone networks. Lord Soames, who is the grandson of Second World War prime minister Sir Winston Churchill, called for the public to have food stocks at home. He said: 'I believe that unless the public has some idea of the sense of urgency, the only way really to wake people up is to establish either a minister or ministry of civil defence, charged with training millions of people how to respond to an attack.' Meanwhile, Tory peer Lord Harlech, who is a reservist, said the Government needed to pay more attention to the Territorial Army and other reserve forces. He said: 'For too long, we have treated reserves as an afterthought. A just-in-case solution. Too often called on at short notice, handed out outdated kit, sidelined from training opportunities and then expected to deliver at the same standard as regulars. 'If we are to rely more heavily on the reserves, as the review suggests, then we must be honest about what that actually requires. 'It means giving them the same standard of equipment, no more trickle-down hand-me-downs. It means equal access to courses and training opportunities. 'Too often, reserves find themselves bumped off areas by cadets or even airsoft groups. That is not how a serious military trains.' Labour's Baroness Goudie criticised the review for failing to mention gender, adding: 'The exclusion of women from peace process does not lead to stability. It leads to a relapse.' Defence minister Lord Coaker said: 'We're debating things that we never thought we'd be debating again, about war in Europe and also about the threats to the homeland with respect to attacks on it.' He added that the Government has committed to spend 5% of GDP on national security by 2035, alongside its Nato allies, but conceded 'the trajectory to get to that will need to be thought through'.
The Guardian
02-06-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Growing threats, new weapons, more troops: key points of strategic defence review
A vision of what war between the UK and another state such as Russia would look like is sketched out briefly but starkly on a page of the strategic defence review (SDR). Such a conflict could involve attacks on the armed forces in the UK and overseas, air and missile attacks on critical infrastructure, along with sabotage and efforts to manipulate information and undermine social cohesion. However, Britain is 'already under daily attack' in cyberspace with 89 'nationally significant' attacks in the year up to last September, according to the review, which calls for a response to a 'a new era of threat', underlined by, but not limited to, increasing Russian aggression. After years in which UK defence was shaped by the post-cold war era, when opponents were mainly non-state actors, the SDR says Britain must be ready to once again 'fight and win' a full-scale war. Sixty-two recommendations are put forward by its authors: the former defence secretary and Nato chief Lord Robertson, the retired British army general Sir Richard Barrons and Dr Fiona Hill, a Russia expert and former White House adviser. They write that they are confident that the transformation they propose is affordable over 10 years, but caution: 'As we live in such turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster. The plan we have put forward can be accelerated.' Russia's reliance on 'nuclear coercion' will be 'the central challenge' for the UK and Nato allies in the coming decades, the SDR warns. The defence secretary, John Healey, announced that the government would 'secure the future' of Britain's nuclear deterrent by investing £15bn in the UK nuclear warhead programme. For the future, the report indicates that Britain should expand its ability to launch a devastating nuclear strike by means other than its submarine fleet alone, referring to 'strengthening extended deterrence'. While there are different options, the review says that there will be a need over the coming decade for more F-35 fighter jets, a variant of which can carry nuclear bombs. At the same time, the review calls for a 'national endeavour' public communications campaign to convince the general public of what it describes as 'the necessity' of the nuclear deterrent. There should be 'a small uplift in troop numbers', according to the review in a recommendation that might not quite put to bed years of angst about Britain's 'shrinking' army. The army should be a mix of regular and reserves, it recommends, with a minimum of 100,000 soldiers, of which 73,000 should be regulars. In terms of recruitment, it calls for a focus on speed alongside a more flexible approach to fitness standards and new recruits being able to pass through medical and bureaucratic checks within a much shorter time than the current six months. Britain should also borrow from Australia's military 'gap years', based on thinking that women and people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds are less likely to be put off if there is a 12-month option of engaging with the military. Cadet forces in schools and communities across the UK should be expanded by 30% by 2030, according to the review, with an ambition to reach 250,000 in the longer term and a greater focus on cadets developing Stem skills. This would be part of a broader move to 'reconnect' defence with society, something that Keir Starmer has already sought to kickstart. However, the review envisages two years of public outreach events to talk about threats and the rationale for defence investment, and work with the Department for Education 'to develop understanding of the armed forces among young people'. Greater focus is needed on protecting the UK's critical national infrastructure (CNI) from attack, the review says, calling for plans to be drawn up by December 2026. Part of this could include the development of a new reserve force. Healey has meanwhile committed up to £1bn of funding to enhance missile defence to protect the 'UK homeland'. Starmer used the launch of the review to commit to building 'up to' 12 new conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines to replace Britain's seven-strong Astute class from the end of the next decade onwards. However, the review says that the Royal Navy 'must continue to move towards a more powerful but cheaper and simpler fleet'. It also envisages the navy playing a new role in securing the UK's critical undersea infrastructure and maritime traffic. Its transformation should include use of unmanned technology across the board, including a 'hybrid' aircraft carrier air-wing with both crewed aircraft and drones. The army must deliver 'tenfold increase in lethality' at the same time as re-equipping and modernising after much of its kit, including Challenger 2 tanks and ammunition, have been given to Ukraine. A new 'digital warfighter group' – using AI and drones – should be established by July 2026. While the UK is 'already under daily attack' in cyberspace, the review warns that cyber-threats will become harder to mitigate as AI and other technology evolves. The formation of a new 'cyber and electromagnetic command' to oversee cyber-operations was announced last week by the MoD. That new commend needs to be filled by civilians and reserves, given that greater expertise exists in the civilian sector, according to the review. While the review says the UK has access to world-class intelligence capabilities, they are 'underpowered and fragmented' within defence intelligence, part of the MoD, and there should be a new unit to protect the military from hostile spy services. The threats At the apex, Russia is described in the SDR as 'an immediate and pressing threat'. While Ukraine has temporarily degraded its land forces, the review warns that Russia will be able to rebuild in the event of a ceasefire there Different language is used for China, which is described as a 'sophisticated and persistent challenge', which has embarked on a large-scale military modernisation that includes the development of missiles that can reach the UK. Others named include North Korea and Iran, both of which continue to be a direct threat to the UK in cyberspace. In addition, the report cautions: 'It will be important to scan for new threats, including those from 'middle powers' that may be hostile to UK interests.'
