John Healey, the new British Defence Minister under the Labour government, warned that British forces are in a deplorable state after an external audit began last week.
Speaking at the British Army’s annual Land Warfare Conference hosted by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank, Healey said that there are issues facing all three branches of the British military, and that they are “much worse than [they] thought.”
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“We know all three services face very serious challenges: hollowed out forces, procurement waste, low morale, recruitment and retention crisis and veterans who can’t access the services they deserve,” Sky News reported Healey saying.
Healey also said that there are rivalries between the branches to compete against each other over the limited budget to fund pet projects, adding that he “really [wants] to see the old rivalries left behind.”
“We must be fit to fight not fight amongst ourselves,” he said.
Healey’s statement mirrored those made in recent weeks by General Sir Patrick Sanders, who until June, served as the UK’s chief of the general staff. Sanders said the current British army stocks “put the hairs up on the back of your neck” and that the UK lacks the capability to sustain a major operation.
“Could you scramble together the two brigades that took the Falklands? Yes, of course we could. But could we get them there? Could we have the task force that made it possible and sustain it? No,” Sanders told The Times.
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Healey, Sanders and new UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer have cautioned that the British military should be ready for growing threats posed by adversaries.
On July 16, the Labour government launched a “root and branch review“ of the British forces. The review stated aim is to understand the current state of the military, the threats the UK faces, and the capabilities needed to address them.
The review, led by three external reviewers, would consult serving military, veterans, lawmakers of all parties, industry and academia. The goal is to publish the results in the first half of 2025.
“In response, our armed forces need to be better ready to fight, more integrated and more innovative. We need clearer accountability, faster delivery, less waste and better value for money,” said Healey, as referenced by the official press release.
During the NATO summit on July 11, Starmer said the UK would set out a “clear path” after the reviews to raise defense spending to 2.5 percent of its GDP without listing a deadline, while Rishi Sunak, his predecessor, vowed to reach the target by 2030.
A Conservative lawmaker acknowledged in April that the UK’s defense budget had not come any closer to the 2.5 percent target since 2010 when Labour was last in power; Another report claimed that day-to-day defense spending had been cut by nearly £10 billion ($12.9 billion) since 2010.
A British parliament research briefing, published in May 2024, showed that even with inflation, the UK’s Ministry of Defence departmental spending dropped after 2010 and it has yet to reach the figure between 2009 and 2010 despite an increase in recent years, particularly after Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In July 2023, the former Conservative government announced a military personnel cut from 82,000 to 73,000 by 2025, which would save the government £5 billion ($6.4 billion). Then-Defence Minister Ben Wallace argued at the time that higher troop numbers don’t equate to better performance, as demonstrated by Moscow’s troops’ abysmal performance in Ukraine.
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