British defence: the crisis in the Armed Forces

In Keir Starmer's "first appearance on the world stage" as Prime Minister, at the Nato summit in Washington last week, he was keen to proclaim Britain as a "major" military power, said Con Coughlin in The Daily Telegraph. 

Starmer declared that security was his "first priority"; reiterated his firm support for Ukraine; and called on all Nato nations to increase their spending on defence from a minimum 2% of GDP, the current commitment, to 2.5%. 

"The only problem" with Starmer's otherwise laudable ambitions is that Britain's Armed Forces are currently "small and under-equipped", and that he and his new Defence Secretary, John Healey, seem to have "little idea when, if ever" their own government will actually meet that 2.5% target. 

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Furthermore, there will be no extra spending in the near future: Labour is insisting that, before decisions are made, there must be a full strategic defence review, a process that could mean no decisions are taken until next year at the earliest.

Dwindling force

In the meantime, it is widely accepted that Britain's Armed Forces are in "crisis", said Larisa Brown in The Times. General Sir Patrick Sanders, the recently retired chief of the general staff, warned that they are so worn down that they could not defend the country if the worst happened, or even fight "a small war" abroad for more than a month. 

UK forces lack essentials, from supply trucks to electronic warfare systems. The RAF and the Royal Navy have overspent on planes and ships, so the Army has had to cut back. It is now less than 73,000 strong, its smallest size since the Napoleonic era, and it is "considered deficient" in important areas such as artillery and air defence. 

Earlier this year, the MPs' Public Accounts Committee warned that the gap between the Ministry of Defence (MoD) budget and the cost of meeting the UK's desired military capabilities has grown to at least £16.9bn, its largest-ever deficit. 

'Reset' required

Still, demanding that the new Government raise spending "within days of taking office" is wrong and "pointless", said The Guardian. Budgets are limited. Providers of all essential public services are "lobbying the Government with the strongest cases they can muster". 

And the strategic defence review is badly needed, said Edward Stringer in The Daily Telegraph. The MoD is in "a downward spiral of paying more to get less". The Ukraine War has been a wake-up call. Our "bonsai" peacetime forces, based on small amounts of top-of-the-range military equipment, would be hopeless in a sustained conflict. We need to build up supplies of artillery shells and other munitions, and to adapt to drone warfare. 

If we want a military that "our allies and foes will respect", a "fundamental reset" is needed.