UK defence budget needs £3bn boost for ‘broken’ armed forces, top general warns
A top general has warned Britain’s armed forces are “at their most broken since the Cold War” and need a £3bn boost to ramp up the UK’s military capabilities.
General Sir Richard Barrons has urged Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to fund the replacement of weapons and tanks given to Ukraine in the budget next month.
Barrons, who led the joint forces command until 2016, told the Express: “We must begin the recapitalisation of the army now, today, and this requires an immediate annual boost of £3bn.
“The Russian problem will remain for a decade. If China remains our long-term challenge, Russia is a speed bump which we simply must get over.”
He said: “We have an army that can issue PPE and drive ambulances but is in no state to fight.
“We are at a point where the world is much more threatening while our armed forces are at their most broken since the Cold War… they are refusing to acknowledge the world we live in by deliberately keeping defence broken at the most critical time for a generation.”
It comes after Tory backbenchers issued stark warnings that the armed forces are “woefully ill-prepared” for a major conflict and that low defence spending is a “false economy”, while defence secretary Ben Wallace is urging the treasury to raise spending by £10bn.
Ex-defence ministers Sir Michael Fallon, Sir Malcolm Rifkind and Michael Portillo have also backed calls to ramp up defence spending, warning the UK faces “hotter” threats than in the Cold War.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak attended the Munich security conference this weekend, where he met European commission president Ursula von der Leyen.
A No10 spokesperson said the pair “agreed on the importance of giving Ukraine the military momentum they need to secure victory against tyranny”.
The UK will take over from Germany and lead NATO’s response force (NRF) in December, and has spent around £4bn on military, humanitarian and economic support to Ukraine.
However, there are fears tanks and troops will not be replaced or trained in time, and that soldiers covering striking Border Force and ambulance workers will continue to disrupt drills.
An Ministry of Defence (MoD) spokesperson said: “The defence secretary has made clear for years now about the need to modernise our army to ensure it keeps pace with our allies.
“That’s why at the spending review in 2020 he achieved an extra £16bn. Reinvesting, learning lessons from Ukraine and growing industrial skills takes time.
“We are on track to start to see new tanks, personnel carriers and air defence systems by the year after next.”