Just 5% of Britons believe that the UK is very well prepared for a potential conflict, exclusive polling for the Daily Express can reveal. The polling comes just months after a strategic report laid bare the shortcomings of the British military, as it set out a host of measures required to deter and defeat aggression from states such as Russia, Iran and China.
The Strategic Defence Review (SDR), warned: “For the first time since the end of the Cold War, the UK faces multiple, direct threats to its security, prosperity, and democratic values. The world itself is beset by volatility and deep uncertainty.”
The report’s authors recommended a series of measures which included improving recruitment and retention, investing in military hardware and weaponry and developing new command structures specialising in cyber warfare and AI. However polling conducted by One Poll which spoke to 2,000 people found that only around one quarter of people were confident that the country was either very well prepared (5%) or fairly well prepared (21%) for conflict.
Conversely, 34% of people thought that the country was not very prepared whilst 24% of people said they believed that the country was not prepared at all.
In a week when Russian dictator Vladimir Putin launched an audacious and unprecedented incursion into sovereign NATO territory, the figures set out the public’s lack of faith in the UK’s preparation to defend against and ultimately defeat foreign aggression.
Decades of under-investment have seen British Army troop numbers drop to their lowest levels since the Napoleonic wars, whilst a lack of battle-winning, mission critical kit has seen some soldiers forced to buy their own drones from Amazon rather than wait for lethargic military procurement process to catch up with the realities of modern warfare.
Earlier this year, the government promised to increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP from April 2027, with an ambition to reach 3% in the next parliament.
This summer, NATO members agreed to further increase defence spending to 5% of GDP by 2035, with 3.5% being spent on conventional defence capabilities and an additional 1.5% allocated for defence-related projects.
The MOD has taken steps to boost recruitment and stem the flow of people leaving the forces in a bid to increse the number of people serving full time.
Improved housing, pay increases and reduced application times have all been highlighted as measures required to achieve this, although the MOD still lost 500 more people than it recruited last year.
The findings come in a week when the MOD launched the defence industrial strategy, which it said was designed to help “people across the UK feel the maximum benefit from increasing defence spending”.
The strategy forms part of a government bid to utilise British industry to fund Britain’s rearmament over the next decade whilst reducing the reliance on foreign partners for vital weaponry.
The MOD said: “The Defence Industrial Strategy will strengthen our security and grow our economy.”
Defence Secretary John Healey added: “Our Defence Industrial Strategy will make Defence an engine for growth, backing British jobs, British industry and British innovation.
“The UK has one of the most advanced and innovative defence industrial bases the world over, but we are in a new era of threat, which demands a new era for UK defence.
“To move to warfighting readiness to deter threats and strengthen security in the Euro-Atlantic, we will reform procurement, innovate at wartime pace, and grow our industrial base.”