We don't have enough bullets, top general admits

Britain's Armed Forces do not have enough money for ammunition or anti-missile systems to defend the nation's interests and would not be prepared for a prolonged war with Russia, a senior defence official has warned.

Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff Lieutenant General Sir Rob Magowan told MPs on the Commons Defence Committee: "We’ve been very clear that the money the amount of money we're spending on munitions at the moment … which is significant, does not meet, in all areas, the threats that we face.

"We've been clear that we need to spend more money, above the programme of record, on what we call integrated air missile defence."

The Government is committed to increase defence spending to 2.5% of gross domestic product, a measure of the size of the economy, but the Prime Minister has declined to say when he expects to meet that goal.

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Defence Secretary Grant Shapps told MPs he had lobbied Rishi Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt for more cash in the Budget, but had failed to secure an increase.

Senior Royal Marines officer Lt Gen Sir Rob said he would have to manage the operational risk that came with not having the resources he would like.

He explained: "We have made it clear, if we were given additional money, what we would spend money on - but we work within the money we've got and we carry the operational risk accordingly."

He insisted the UK was "ready for war" - although he acknowledged it was not prepared for an enduring war against Russia.

Conservative Defence Committee member Mark Francois said: "We couldn't fight [Russian President Vladimir]) Putin for more than a couple of months in a full-on shooting war because we don't have the ammunition and the reserves of equipment to do it. That’s true isn’t it?"

The Deputy Chief of The Defence Staff acknowledged that was true.

However the Defence Secretary pointed out that any such conflict would be fought alongside Nato allies who could collectively outgun Russia, rather than by the UK alone.

Mr Shapps said: "For people watching and hearing that the UK isn't ready for war exclusively with Russia, it's important to understand that because we are in Nato and [mutual defence agreement] Article 5 exists, we would never be in that situation."