The prime minister has left the UK unprepared for war due to an “ever-expanding welfare budget” and “corrosive complacency”, the former Nato chief Lord George Robertson has warned.
The former Labour defence secretary will use a speech on Tuesday evening to accuse ministers of being unwilling to make the necessary investment to secure the UK’s defence capabilities in the years to come.
In the speech, he 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.”
Lord Robertson authored the Strategic Defence Review last year, a ten-year plan of what is required to meet the changing military and defence requirements in the current climate.
The government has since delayed the publication of the Defence Investment Plan, setting out the money allocated to achieve the recommendations made in Lord Robertson’s review.
Lord Robertson told the Financial Times there was a gap between the prime minister’s rhetoric on defence and the action he had delivered, saying the PM was “not willing to make the necessary investment”.
He will accuse “non-military experts in the Treasury” of “vandalism”, according to extracts of his speech published by the newspaper.
He will say: “We cannot defend Britain with an ever-expanding welfare budget,” and accuse Labour of a “corrosive complacency today in Britain’s political leadership”.
Continuing, he is set to say: “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.”
Lord Robertson’s defence review, which was published in June last year, advocated for a Nato-centric approach to the UK’s future military investment.
Referencing US President Donald Trump’s criticism of the defence alliance, Robertson said: “Recent days have shown that the role and priorities of the United States have shifted, and will never be the same again.”
The government has committed to spend 2.5% of gross domestic product on defence by 2027, increasing to 3% in the next parliament and a Nato-agreed target of 3.5% by 2035.
Starmer told MPs on Monday that the government is working to finalise the defence investment plan.
The Financial Times meanwhile reported that there is a funding gap of around £28 billion in the existing plans, and the Ministry of Defence, Treasury and Downing Street are deadlocked over how to proceed with the new ten-year plan.
A government spokesman said the review 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.
“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.”
Speaking on Tuesday, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch backed Lord Robertson’s comments, telling BBC Radio 5 Live: “We used to spend one in every seven pounds on welfare. Now it’s one in every three pounds, and a lot of that money has basically been swapped for defence.
“The world is not as peaceful as it used to be. The peace dividend that existed after the fall of the Berlin Wall is gone; we need to spend more money on defence.”
In a speech delivered on Saturday, she previously called for the UK to reset relations with the US.
Badenoch said some of Mr Trump’s rhetoric had “dismayed” her, but that “regardless, we must not miss the underlying lesson”.
She added: “We must look beyond this conflict in the Middle East and develop the resources we need to respond to this new era of threats.
“We have a huge amount of work to do to reassert Britain as a power in the world.
“First and foremost, we must rearm. If our military is strengthened, our hand is strengthened. We must undertake the biggest peacetime programme of rearmament in our country’s history.”
The Tories have pledged “the largest net increase in British troops under any government since the Second World War” if they return to power, including recruiting 6,000 regular soldiers and 14,000 reservists.
They said some £20 billion could be found to fund the effort by reinstating the two-child benefit cap and reallocating money for Government research and development and net zero projects.
Lord Robertson is set to deliver this speech in Salisbury on Tuesday evening.
Follow STV News on WhatsApp
Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
