A former NATO secretary general said the UK’s security is in peril and Sir Keir Starmer’s government has shown corrosive complacency towards defence.
Lord George Robertson, the former Labour defence secretary who wrote the government’s Strategic Defence Review (SDR), will accuse non-military experts in the Treasury of vandalism, in a speech to be delivered later on Tuesday.
While the SDR was delivered in June last year, the 10-year defence investment plan to fund it has been repeatedly delayed and Lord Robertson told the Financial Times Sir Keir was not willing to make the necessary investment.
A government spokesperson said the SDR was 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.
In a directly political intervention, Lord Robertson – who is now a key government adviser said in his speech that we cannot defend Britain with an ever-expanding welfare budget.
Speaking in Salisbury, he said that they are underprepared and underinsured. We are also under attack and not safe, Britain’s national security and safety is in peril.
He also added that 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.
Defence spending last year was 2.3% of GDP (around £66bn). A defence official highlighted the government’s target to spend 3% of GDP on defence by the end of the next Parliament and 3.5% of GDP on core defence by 2035.
