UK has 'lost momentum' for war readiness - and 'relies on enemies to leave us alone'

Lead author of the landmark Strategic Defence Review says Britain is currently 'running on luck' and post-Cold War era 'fumes' to protect itself from attack

cancel email WhatsApp link share Share bookmark Save

share cancel email WhatsApp link bookmark

The UK has “lost momentum” to prepare for war, the architect of the Government’s landmark Strategic Defence Review (SDR) has warned.

Gen Sir Richard Barrons, the lead author of the SDR, told The i Paper that Britain is currently “running on luck” and on the “fumes” of the post-Cold War era to protect itself from attack from Russia or other hostile states.

He warned there was a “troubling” lack of urgency from ministers to implement the recommendations of his report – including preparing the UK for war.

One of the core recommendations of the review, endorsed in full by Sir Keir Starmer and Defence Secretary John Healey when it was published in June, was a Defence Readiness Bill.

New Feature In Short Quick Stories. Same trusted journalism.

The bill would streamline preparations in the defence sector and industry if the UK needs to move on to a war footing, as well as improve protection of critical national infrastructure and bolster the UK’s homeland defence.

But The i Paper has learned that the legislation will not be put forward during the current parliamentary session, which runs until next spring, and that no date has yet been set for its introduction.

Several government departments are working on the legislation, however, including the Cabinet Office who are leading on a “home defence programme”.

Yet Barrons said he was nevertheless concerned about the “loss of a sense of urgency and loss of momentum” from the Government.

He said the bill would make it “much more straightforward and efficient for the country to mobilise not just defence but industry in support of a transition from a sort of normal confrontation to conflict”.

‘We are relying on our enemies to leave us alone’

Barrons added: “Until that’s in place, we are relying on our enemies to leave us alone and our allies to bail us out if we get caught short, which for a country like the UK is not an impressive place to be.”

Asked if the UK was failing to prepare for war, he said: “The UK is currently not prepared as a country for war and until it improves national resilience and military capability it is relying on the co-operation of both friends and enemies to stay safe in a very uncertain and dangerous world.

“I think the thing that’s troubling is the loss of a sense of urgency and the loss of momentum on the back of announcing the review in June, that is troubling.

“And just running on the fumes of the post-Cold War era, where none of this really applied or mattered, doesn’t appeal to me to be a brilliant solution.

“And until we get things like the Defence Readiness Bill, we are running on our luck. We’re not running on policy and planning.”

Lack of progress on implementing the SDR’s recommendations was being fuelled by lack of growth in the economy and the amount of funding to boost defence, Barrons said.

Earlier this year the Prime Minister announced annual defence spending would be increased to 2.5 per cent of GDP by April 2027, and up to 3 per cent by 2034, to account for the growing threat of hostile states.

But Barrons, a former commander of the UK’s joint forces command, said more money needed to be set aside in the Budget for defence.

He added: “One of the reasons [the Government] is struggling to implement it is that we’ve spent all our money, we don’t have growth. We have a bunged-up public sector spending a bit more than a trillion pounds a year on all sorts of things, we don’t want to tax or borrow more.”

Barrons said that if the Government accepts there is a major risk of war, it should spend more on defence to protect Britain.

While Rachel Reeves should not put up taxes in her Budget later this month to fund defence, Barrons suggested, the Chancellor needed to make tougher choices on public spending, including slashing the welfare bill.

More “public clamour” for increased defence spending was also needed, Barrons added.

He warned that the current state of geopolitics meant there was a “risk which is unfolding at broadly twice the pace than we are doing anything about it”.

The retired general also urged ministers to publish an update to the 2022 Critical Minerals Strategy, which was initially due in spring this year.

It is expected to contain measures to shore up supply chains for rare earths and other critical minerals used in F-35 fighter jets and other UK military kit.

The failure to produce the Critical Minerals Strategy was “one symptom, but an important one, of our national fragility, despite the fact we have all this analysis that says we live in a dangerous world, and it could really hurt us until we get better organised”, Barrons said.

The Defence Readiness Bill is also expected to increase penalties for hostile states and entities who interfere with undersea cables – as the UK is currently relying on 19th-century legislation where the maximum fine that can be imposed is £1,000.

Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge said: “Despite the growing threats we face, Labour don’t even have a timetable for their Defence Readiness Bill.

“This shows that for all Keir Starmer’s bold talk on national security, in reality his Government is failing to prioritise defence. War is changing rapidly but Labour are moving far too slowly.”

Asked when the Defence Readiness Bill would be introduced, the Ministry of Defence pointed to a written answer given by defence minister Louise Sandher-Jones in September, which said: “We are working closely across Government through the Cabinet Office-led Home Defence programme to shape our key requirements, and understand and identify the measures needed.

“This will lay the groundwork to introduce legislation when parliamentary time allows, but we do not yet have a specific timescale for when this will come before Parliament.”

A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: “Britain is entering a new era of warfighting readiness, driven by the biggest sustained boost in defence spending since the end of the Cold War.

“We are delivering on the Strategic Defence Review by investing £6bn in munitions this Parliament, including £1.5bn in an ‘always on’ pipeline for munitions and building at least six new energetics and munitions factories in the UK, creating British jobs and boosting British exports.

“We’re also investing in new technology, taking lessons from Ukraine to put the UK at the leading edge of defence innovation, and investing £1bn in a digital targeting web to speed up battlefield decision-making, targeting and destroying enemy threats quicker.”