Underprepared and under attack: Govt accused of failing to protect UK from the threat of war

The UK's national safety and security is in peril due to "corrosive complacency" from Sir Keir Starmer's government, the lead author of the Strategic Defence Review is set to say this evening.

Former Labour defence secretary Lord Robertson will tell an audience in Salisbury that the UK is "underprepared, underinsured and under attack" as a result of the "ever-expanding welfare budget" which has robbed defence of the money it needs to protect our nation.

He is the second author of the SDR to speak out in several days, after General Sir Richard Barrons wrote in an op-ed for The Sun that the UK is "facing the biggest threats we have seen in decades" but the military is "woefully underfunded and under-prepared to deal with them".

• People think they're safe – but they're not, warns the lead author of the SDR
• What does the Strategic Defence Review mean for each of the three services?
• Strategic Defence Review: Plans for the future of the UK's Armed Forces – at a glance

Both senior defence figures say the Iran war must be a wake-up call for the government which underscores the necessity to spend more on the Armed Forces.

The Defence Investment Plan (DIP), which sets out how plans in the SDR will be paid for, was due to be released last autumn but has still not been published. 

The government says it is finalising the DIP and it will be published as soon as possible, but has not set a clear date.

In a response to a parliamentary question yesterday, Defence Minister Luke Pollard said the government "has made significant progress on SDR implementation since it was published last June", including:

• Establishing the Defence Cyber and Electromagnetic Force, Military Intelligence Services and Defence Counter-Intelligence Units
• Unveiling the Atlantic Bastion programme
• Announcing a plan to purchase 12 new F-35A fighter jets and join Nato's dual capable aircraft nuclear mission
• Publishing the Defence Industrial Strategy
• Setting out £9 billion of investment over the next decade to upgrade 40,000 forces' family homes under the Defence Housing Strategy

However, Lord Robertson will say this evening that Sir Keir is "not willing to make the necessary investment" and will accuse "non-military experts in the Treasury" of "vandalism", according to extracts of his speech published by the Financial Times.

"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," he will say.

Speaking to BFBS Forces News at an event to promote defence technical excellence colleges, Mr Pollard said that the government was working "flat out" to deliver the DIP.

"But as well as delivering that work, we are continuing to sign contracts," he added.

"Not a week goes by without me signing off more defence contracts. And as we have an increasing defence budget, I want more of that budget being spent with British companies, creating the new technologies that our forces need."