Britain’s Armed Forces are not ready to fight a war, Defence Secretary John Healey has sensationally admitted.
Mr Healey said the British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force have “become very skilled and ready to conduct military operations”.
But they have become too depleted to fight a war, the Defence Secretary conceded.
Speaking after more than 100 days in post, Healey told the Politico podcast Power Play: “The UK, in keeping with many other nations, has essentially become very skilled and ready to conduct military operations. What we’ve not been ready to do is to fight. Unless we are ready to fight we are not in shape to deter.”
Ministers have been warned the Navy and Air Force are desperately short of ships and aircraft.
And there is fury and concern amongst Army chiefs, as they will have fewer than 70,000 trained soldiers next year.
Armies across Europe are shrinking but it appears the UK is losing servicemen and women at a faster rate than its allies.
Research by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) suggested while Germany lost 2.92 per cent of its troops from 2013 to 2023, and France and Italy 8.26 and 8.58 per cent respectively, the UK lost 14.63 per cent of its personnel over the same period.
The House of Lords International Relations and Defence Committee warned civilians must be ready to fight because Britain’s military is too small.
Peers warned Britain’s military “lack the mass, resilience, and internal coherence necessary to maintain a deterrent effect and respond effectively to prolonged and high-intensity warfare”.
The report said all evidence it had heard “points to the current size of the British Army being inadequate” and questioned “whether the British Army is prepared to meet the growing threat posed by Russia to European security”.
Fewer than half of the Royal Navy’s escort vessels – Type 45 Destroyers and Type 23 Frigates – are currently deployed or immediately deployable.
Only two out of six Type 45 destroyers – HMS Duncan and HMS Dauntless – are currently active, according to the Defence Journal.
Five out of the nine Type 23 frigates are on operations. Both classes of ship are due to be replaced with Type 31 and 26 counterparts.
The Defence Journal said Type 45 availability has increased by 17 per cent, with Type 23 rising by 26 per cent.
And a report last year warned that the British Army only has 157 Challenger 2 battle tanks either on or available for operations. This is out of 227 tanks listed in the “paper fleet”.
The Tories have warned that Labour’s refusal to set out a pathway to increasing defence spending to 2.5% of GDP is “likely” to lead to cuts in troop numbers and equipment.
It will also hamper attempts to replenish Britain’s depleted ammunition stocks, Mr Cartlidge warned, after years of providing military aid to Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin has warned the West will be at war with Russia if Britain and America allow Ukrainian troops to fire Storm Shadow missiles at military targets inside Russia.
James Cartlidge, the Conservative MP for South Suffolk, said of Healey’s remarks to Politico: “People shouldn’t talk down the armed forces’ capability”.
He added: “Equally there are gaps to fill and replenish, not least in terms of replacing the munitions we’ve rightly gifted to Ukraine but also the impact of a buoyant labour market on retention.
“We accepted the need to increase the defence budget to 2.5 per cent because the threat is growing and the nature of warfare is rapidly evolving,” he said.
Thousands of British troops and hundreds of military vehicles have deployed to Germany for a huge training exercise to boost their war-fighting capabilities.
Major General Olly Brown, General Officer Commanding 3rd (UK) Division, praised the exercise as a vital opportunity to sharpen the British Army’s warfighting skills, saying, “We have had 3,200 soldiers and officers out here in Germany to optimize warfighting skills, which is what the British Army is all about. We are learning every day, becoming better and more lethal.”
Major Tony Meagor added: “The whole point of this exercise is to prove to our friends and allies that the British Army is ready for whatever comes its way. We are here to reassure our NATO allies and the German Army that we are ready to help and support them whatever the mission or whatever the situation.”