Healey pledges to 'create British Army that is 10 times more lethal' as full details of defence review emerge
Defence Secretary John Healey has pledged to “create a British Army that is 10 times more lethal” through software and long-range weapons, and committed to delivering “the best kit and technology into the hands of our frontline forces”.
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The long-awaited review into the state of Britain's armed forces shows that our defence systems are still stuck in the past, and have not been updated properly since the end of the Cold War.
The Prime Minister has dubbed our armed forces as "hollowed out" and vowed that this review will be the first step to reversing that trend.
The report concludes that defences haven't had significant investment for years, resulting in "an organisation that is not currently optimised for warfare against a peer military state".
It was based on the current plans to increase our defence spending budget to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2027 - announced by the PM earlier this year.
Sir Keir Starmer has said there will be an "ambition" to get it up to three per cent in the next parliament - though there's no date on when that might be.
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Poor military recruitment and shoddy accommodation have created a "workforce crisis", the major review lead by Lord Robertson has also found.
It says that UK stockpiles are inadequate as we've sent so much kit to the frontlines in Ukraine to help the war effort.
The Ministry of Defence and the industry must be prepared to endure "long campaigns" in future - in a nod to the kinds of conflict we've seen between Russia and Ukraine.
We must get Britain back to a "war fighting posture" that we've not had since the end of the 1980s, the review says.
The review, first ordered by Sir Keir when he came into No10 last year also recommended a boost in the number of our troops for the first time in decades.
We should have a minimum of 100,000 troops made up of regulars and reservists, it says.
Our army now is as a small as it was in the Napoleonic times, despite critics warning for years that the world is becoming more dangerous.
Currently we have a target of 76,000 regular forces, but latest numbers show that it's only around 70,000.
Britain's reservists have to be boosted by 20 per cent when funding allows, too, the military expert panel who wrote the report, says.
Government insiders have said that there will be new efforts to cut red tape in joining our army, navy and air force, too - including ditching old blockers like if a candidate had asthma as a child, which would usually rule people out.
The government has promised to implement all 62 recommendations of today's report, which lays bare the challenges of warfare in the modern age.
The review has also found:
- There should be an Australian-style 'military gap year' where Brits are offered better pay perks to try out a career
- Chiefs should start talk with the US and NATO about a possible second nuclear deterrent - which could see them attached to missiles
- There's no need for an Israel-style 'iron dome' here as we're unlikely to suffer a missile attack
- Ministers should put forward a new defence readiness bill to give the government extra powers in a crisis - to mobilise troops and industry
- It stops short of saying there should be Brits conscripted
It also suggests there must be cuts made to the current defence infrastructure by slashing the size of the civil service, finance teams, and HR.
Some of those jobs should be automated in a bid to save cash, the report says.
Sir Keir faced a barrage of questions earlier about when defence cash would rise beyond 2.5 per cent, as he's promised.
He would only say it's an "ambition" and not a promise because he doesn't know yet when they could provide the billions of pounds extra to pay for it.
The Prime Minister told LBC earlier today that he would do more to stop people from leaving the armed forces by improving their pay and housing.
But he wouldn't say how many people more he'd like to see or when they would arrive.
He spoke to LBC's Scotland Political Editor, Gina Davidson, in Glasgow this morning as he launched the long-awaited strategic defence review.
The Prime Minister told LBC that the "threat level" to the UK has gone up and we're in a "new era" of defence now.
He said: "We're in a new era and we're in a more unstable world. So it's vital that we carry out the recommendations of the review.
"There are a number of limbs to that. The first is obviously personnel, and here we do need to build up our hollowed out forces. I think we do that in two ways.
"One is adding at the top, the other is making sure we don't lose people who leave the services. And that's why what we're doing on homes, what we're doing on pay is really important."
When grilled on whether there would be a target in terms of numbers of forces, he refused to say.
But he insisted he did want to see that number go up "as soon as possible".
Sir Keir said: "We want to get the numbers up as quickly as possible. The report sets out the way that can be done into the next Parliament. It has to start with the steps we've already taken now on homes and on pay.
"I'm really pleased that we've given our service personnel the biggest pay increase for 20 years and that we're investing in the homes that they deserve that will help us.
"Because one of the problems we face at the moment is people leaving. And we have to, as I say, come at this from both ends".
Yesterday, Defence Secretary John Healey told Lewis Goodall that he did want to increase the size of the army - but said it was vital to stop people from leaving first.