The UK’s armed forces are not ready for a “full scale” war, the head of the military has said. Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton said the reason for the country’s lack of preparedness was due to the Cold War peace dividend, which saw defence spending shift to areas including health and education.
He suggested that Russia being bogged down in its war on Ukraine meant the UK may have enough time to prepare for the threat of war. Sir Richard told Parliament’s Defence Committee group of MPs: “Over the last 30 years since the end of the Cold War we haven’t been ready. We have taken a peace dividend and we are not as ready as we need to be for a kind of full scale conflict that we might face.”
The military chief added: “It’s how we ultimately deter our principal adversaries, being ready to fight and win. So part of that is how we modernise and transform the armed forces is to make sure they’re ready for that fight in the future.”
Sir Richard told Committee members that UK defence is enjoying the “largest sustained increase in defence spending” he has known.
But he refused to be drawn on a reported £28billion shortfall in the defence budget. His refusal came after reports of a Downing Street meeting during which warnings about the funding shortfall reportedly came to light.
He told the Committee: “I thought you might ask me about the speculation in the media about the cost of the program, and speculation over particular numbers, and that’s exactly what it is: it is speculation.”
Sir Richard added: “I will tell you that we did meet the Prime Minister in December, and we did talk about a number of issues associated with defence, including the Defence Investment Plan, but the material that was discussed at that meeting was classified secret, and so I’m not going to talk about that in public.”
The Chief of Defence Staff also said the Ministry of Defence “do not have a date” for when the Defence Investment Plan (DIP) will be released.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has reportedly ordered a rewriting of the DIP, which was due to be completed before the end of last year, but is now expected in the spring.
The DIP will lay out how new defence equipment and infrastructure will be paid for over the next 10 years.
It was reported that Sir Richard delivered the forecast to the PM, Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Defence Secretary John Healey in the run up to Christmas.
Under Government plans, the MoD’s budget is set to rise by 3.6% in real terms by 2029. Under pressure from US President Donald Trump, Sir Keir has pledged to increase defence spending to 2.5% of national income by 2027. This is due to rise to 3.5% by 2035.
In a wide-ranging appearance before the Committee, Sir Richard sought to assure MPs that British soldiers would be safe and well-resourced if they are sent to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire.
He said: “We won’t deploy our armed forces if we’re not happy that they’re going to be safe, and I’m confident, having been closely involved in the work on the Coalition of the Willing planning, that we have a means of meeting the requirements that have been set, and this additional funding will reduce the risk.”
Sir Keir and French President Emmanuel Macron last week announced they would be prepared to send troops to Ukraine to help secure a peace deal as part of multinational efforts.
