War in Ukraine highlights UK's decline as a full-spectrum military power, warns report
The war in Ukraine has exposed Nato and the UK's failure to deter Russia’s aggression, highlighting the "fundamental weaknesses" in the UK's military power, a House of Lords committee has warned.
In a damning report titled Ukraine: A Wake-Up Call, the committee issued a stark warning about the readiness of the UK’s Armed Forces, calling for urgent reform in defence spending and strategy.
International Relations & Defence Committee chair Lord de Mauley said the UK lacked the ability to sustain large-scale warfare.
He said the war in Ukraine was "laying bare the gap between ambition and reality" in the notion of the UK as a global power.
The report stressed that without decisive action, the UK would struggle to meet any future security challenges.
It said: "We found that the UK’s Armed Forces lack the mass, resilience and internal coherence necessary to maintain a deterrent effect and respond effectively to prolonged and high-intensity warfare."
Citing the example of a war with Russia, it described how the UK would need to be capable of fielding second and subsequent fighting echelons, while also providing military protection to critical national infrastructure at home.
Likewise, if the UK was required to support Nato allies in the Baltics and Eastern Europe with a land force, there would be long supply lines of ammunition, equipment, manpower and rations to be protected.
The report found the UK could not currently field sufficient troops and fighting units for these tasks.
"Our forces' size and structure has been predicated on the belief that conflicts would be resolved within weeks, rather than years," the report said.
Along with the size of the Army being inadequate, "burdensome bureaucracy [is] making recruitment more challenging than it needs to be".
Going forward, it said strengthening recruitment and retention for all three services should be a priority for the Government.
It noted that the Reserve Forces present "an untapped opportunity to build mass".
But for this to succeed, it said the Government must define the reservists' role much more clearly, fund them appropriately and put effort into offering incentives for people to join.
Decisions made in the upcoming Strategic Defence Review will determine whether the UK can continue to play a leading role in Nato, with decisive action required to close the gaps in its military preparedness and strengthen the UK's defences.
Lord de Mauley concluded: "Given the perilous threat environment, the Government must not miss this chance and must commit to spending more on defence and spending better."
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