Former Army chiefs have warned Rishi Sunak that his £5 billion boost for defence is “not enough” to tackle the growing threats from Russia and China.
The Prime Minister announced the two-year funding package as he travelled to San Diego for talks with US president Joe Biden and Australian premier Anthony Albanese.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly was setting out further details of the new spending plan in the House of Commons today as part of an update to the UK’s integrated defence review.
But the £5 billion settlement falls short of the £8 billion-£11 billion that Defence Secretary Ben Wallace was reportedly demanding in the run-up to Wednesday’s Budget.
“It’s not enough,” said General Lord Richard Dannatt, head of the Army from 2006 to 2009. “This £5 billion represents a third of what is generally acknowledged is needed to make our defence credible. It’s better than nothing, but it’s certainly not what is required.”
In total, £3 billion of the new money has been earmarked for nuclear defence — including developing submarines for Australia under the AUKUS pact with the US and Australia. A further £1.9 billion will be used to replace munitions stockpiles donated to Ukraine to help fight Russia. Sir Peter Wall, chief of the general staff from 2010-14, added on LBC that the Army had been hollowed out and that failure to meet Mr Wallace’s demands in full now could “create more problems downstream”.
Mr Sunak insisted the UK’s armed forces had the funding they needed for a “more volatile world”. But while he gave a commitment to spend 2.5 per cent of GDP on defence, he failed to set out a time-line for hitting that target.
The defence review “refresh” updates Britain’s defence priorities — set out in 2021 — following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and pressure from Tory MPs to take a tougher line on Beijing.
Mr Sunak acknowledged the Chinese Communist Party’s military, financial and diplomatic activity represented an “epoch-defining challenge”.
