Britain’s Armed Forces have been “hollowed out”, Retired General Sir Richard Barrons has said, adding that £10 billion needs to be annually to give the UK the security it needs
One of Britain’s top retired generals has warned the UK “act today” and prepare for war with Russia.
Retired General Sir Richard Barrons said the country’s Armed Forces have been “hollowed out” by cuts and can no longer rely on US support to “bail” Britain out.
He estimates that a yearly increase of £10 billion needs to be found every year so Britain’s defence can be properly funded. Sir Richard called this the “bargain of the century” if it ensures Britain never have to pay the huge costs of fighting a war.
“The war in Iran and Russia’s aggression in Europe must be a wake up call for the entire country,” Sir Richard wrote in the Sun. “We must all unite in a national effort to beef up our defences while there is still time, otherwise it could be too late.”
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He added: “Russia thinks it is already ‘at war’ with Europe. They hack us, try to meddle in our politics and even hire ‘organised crime’ to sabotage our businesses.
Sir Richard also said the missiles that “rain down” on Ukraine could one day be pointed at Britain.
He said this threat was not “imminent”, but “we need to be ready if the day ever comes”.
The retired general questioned politicians who have failed to fund the military because they “see no votes on it” and that MPs need to “make the hard choices to keep us safe”.
Sir Richard was one of the writers for the government-commission Strategic Defence Review, published last year.
Speaking to BBC Four’s The World At One, he said he had expected it to be enacted through a defence investment plan that took the 62 recommendations and turned them into a 10-year programme of funded activity, but that they are “still waiting for that plan to be issued”.
Sir Richard added that the UK’s armed forces are “grounded in the state the post-Cold War era left them”, but noted that the economic position means the Government is choosing to transform the country’s defence over a period of longer than 10 years, when “you’ve probably got three to five years”.
He argued that it is “not a question of affordability”, but of “hard choices to do without something else to put more money into defence, because it’s vital”.
On the US’s position in NATO, Sir Richard said: “What I think has become more difficult on the back of Greenland and the difficult rhetoric around the war in Iran is the degree of trust between the US and European NATO, and I think that is very dangerous.
“I very badly want to believe that, below the level of rhetoric, substantial things are still holding, and I think they are.”
However, the US cavalry is “not going to come now in the way we’ve become accustomed to since 1949”, he said, which makes the urgency to restore European defences greater, especially if the US exit is “some sort of cliff edge”, rather than managed.
Pressure has mounted on the Government to publish its long-delayed defence investment plan as global tensions simmer following the US-Iran ceasefire.
Defence Secretary John Healey last month denied that the Treasury was holding up the publication of the plan, and rejected suggestions there had been requests to scale it back.
Labour MP and Commons Defence Committee chairman Tan Dhesi warned its absence risks undermining Britain’s standing in NATO.
Mr Dhesi said the UK’s “inability to deploy a single ship swiftly” after the outbreak of war in the Middle East had left many “embarrassed”.
“The Defence Committee has repeatedly raised concerns around the UK’s lack of mass and capabilities, and the urgent need for investment in UK defence,” he said.
“While the strategic defence review set out the long-term strategic vision for our military, the defence investment plan was meant to provide the details, and its publication has been delayed several months.
“The lack of a public plan now runs the risk of undermining the UK’s ability to play a full and leading role in NATO.”
Real-terms defence spending fluctuated under the successive Conservative governments between 2010 and 2024, falling by 22% by 2016/17, after which it steadily rose and has recently returned to 2010 levels.
Sir Keir’s Labour Government has pledged to spend 2.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) on core defence by 2027, rising to 3% in the next parliament.
Defence minister Luke Pollard accused the Tories of having “hollowed out” the armed forces and “leaving our brave servicemen and women exposed”.
He added: “Prime Minister Keir Starmer is delivering the biggest sustained uplift in defence spending since the end of the Cold War, with every pound of our defence uplift delivering for British workers, British businesses and Britain’s national security.”
Mr Healey, meanwhile, revealed on Thursday that the UK and its allies tracked three Russian vessels off the UK’s northern coast.
A British warship and aircraft were deployed to deter “malign” activity by Vladimir Putin’s regime in waters off the UK’s northern coast, John Healey said.
He said Putin had sought to capitalise on the world being “distracted” by the Iran war and that he poses “the primary threat to UK security”.
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