Sir Keir Starmer has shown “corrosive complacency” towards defence, a key government adviser has warned, saying the UK’s security is “in peril” as a result.
Lord George Robertson, the former Nato secretary general who was appointed by the prime minister to write the government’s Strategic Defence Review (SDR), will use a speech on Tuesday to accuse “non-military experts” in the Treasury of “vandalism” and accuse Sir Keir of being unwilling “to make the necessary investment” in Britain’s defence.
The government has promised to publish a 10-year defence investment plan to fund the SDR, but it has been beset by repeat delays amid warnings that the military is facing a £28bn black hole in its funding over the next four years.
In a damning intervention, the Labour peer and former defence secretary will also take aim at Sir Keir Starmer’s failure to tackle to the ballooning benefits bill, warning: “We cannot defend Britain with an ever-expanding welfare budget.”
Amid escalating turbulence in the Middle East and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, Lord Robertson will say: “We are underprepared. We are underinsured. We are under attack. We are not safe . . . Britain’s national security and safety is in peril.”
According to the Financial Times, he will add: “There is a corrosive complacency today in Britain’s political leadership. Lip service is paid to the risks, the threats, the bright red signals of danger – but even a promised national conversation about defence can’t be started.”
Speaking to the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, another one of the SDR’s authors General Sir Richard Barrons agreed with Lord Robertson that “there’s an enormous gap between where we have to be to keep the country safe in the world we now live in and where we actually are”.
He had earlier warned that the military is so depleted it could only “seize a small market town on a good day”.
The government has committed to spend 2.5 per cent of gross domestic product on defence by 2027, increasing to 3 per cent in the next parliament and a Nato-agreed target of 3.5 per cent by 2035.
Sir Keir told MPs on Monday that the government is working to finalise the defence investment plan but he did not want to repeat the mistakes of previous administrations because “we inherited plans that were unfunded and not deliverable”.
Lord Robertson’s intervention comes just days after former defence secretary Ben Wallace accused ministers of “taking the public for fools” after the current defence secretary John Healey insisted the UK is ready to defend itself.
“The problem is they simply will not make the tough political decisions… So we end up with very hollow platitudes and partisan comments from a Labour Party who think spin is the solution”, Sir Ben told The Independent over the weekend.
MPs on both sides of the Commons have already expressed concerns over the failure of the government to publish its Defence Investment Plan.
Meanwhile, in-year savings were blamed for a delay in sending HMS Dragon to Cyprus weeks after the Iran crisis began and the UK’s base on the island came under attack from Tehran.
There are also ongoing question marks over the reduction of the size of the UK army which is down to around 70,000, and using poor and outdated heavy vehicles and tanks.
A government spokesman said: “We are delivering on the Strategic Defence Review to meet the threats we face.
“It is backed by the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War, with a total of over £270 billion being invested across this Parliament.
“We are finalising our defence investment plan that we will publish as soon as possible, putting the best kit and technology into the hands of our forces, rebuilding British industry to make defence an engine for growth and doubling down on our own commitment to Nato.”
