Military experts in the U.K. are warning that delays in the Starmer government’s Defense Investment Plan mean that the UK is running out of time to prepare for war against Russia. These same experts are painfully aware that Britain has hardly any air force, navy or army with which to wage a major war. The DIP, if it’s ever completed, is supposed to lay out a plan for fixing that problem. “The document is expected to outline how up to £18bn of Government money will be spent on military hardware, but there are reported clashes with the Treasury over the final agreed amount,” The i Paper reported yesterday. “But frustrated industry insiders and experts told The i Paper that without the spending blueprint they are in limbo, with production of military kit, weapons and resources proceeding on a piecemeal basis.”
And in an article for The i Paper, former House of Commons Defense Committee chairman Tobias Ellwood claims Europe is “staring at the foothills of a major conflict” and Britain and other NATO allies are “waking up late.” He says that while NATO allies are talking seriously about preparation for war, this is not being followed through with action—including clear budgets, procurement contracts and factory order books.
Ellwood complains that the response to last week’s drone incident in Romania–the launching of fighter jets to try to intercept wayward drones “is a 1990s response to a 2020s challenge. Modern conflict moves at machine speed. By the time a traditional military response is assembled, the drone has gone, the signal has been sent and the strategic effect achieved.”
He added: “Every month that passes delays contracts, slows production lines and postpones capabilities the Armed Forces urgently need. Defense companies cannot invest, recruit and expand on the basis of speeches alone. Industry requires certainty. The military requires capability. Both require funding.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer reportedly told Cabinet ministers on Tuesday that the Government was “working to finalize” the DIP, and that “the threats faced by the UK were changing faster than at any point in our lifetime” and the Ukraine conflict was now in its fifth year, with “no clear exit strategy and peace talks at an impasse.”
Starmer also claimed that “the UK and Europe had to face up to the Russian threat, which was increasingly hybrid in nature. This included cyber attacks, the sabotage of undersea cables and longer-range missile capability,” Downing Street said, and that “it was the Government’s duty to provide the country with the defense capability it needs.”
In reality, the only “sabotage” that’s going on is the sabotage of peace by the British Empire.
