British Army would run out of munitions within ten days of war breaking out, former defence minister tells MPs

25 March 2024, 22:40

By Kieran Kelly

@kellyjourno

The British Army would run out of munitions within ten days of war breaking out, a former defence minister has told MPs.

John Spellar, who served as armed forces minister between 1999 and 2001, told Parliament: “The minister rightly speaks about the ability to sustain fighting, he knows that an exercise conducted with the Americans showed that the British Army would run out of munitions within ten days.”

Responding, the outgoing armed forces minister James Heappey said: “In exercises that I have seen where the UK have operated alongside the US what happens again and again and again is that American senior commanders hold the UK force elements in the highest of regard.”

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Mr Heappey, who recently announced he would be stepping down as an MP, added that the UK's armed forces “remain fearsome”, the Evening Standard reports.

It comes amid growing calls for the government to spend more on defence as new threats emerge across the world.

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Before this month's Spring Budget, defence secretary Grant Shapps urged Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to boost military spending in a bid "to re-establish leadership in Europe".

Mr Shapps sent a letter to Mr Hunt formally requesting that he increase defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP.

He warned that "bold action" needed to be taken to "re-establish" the UK's leadership in Europe. The increase would have amounted to around £9 billion - a big step up from the current 2.2 per cent of GDP.

The defence secretary also recently warned that the UK is in a "pre-war world".

But there was nothing new for Britain's armed forces when Mr Hunt took to the Commons earlier this month.

In the Budget, the UK’s core military spending rose to £54.2bn this financial year (2023-24), following large increases in 2020 and 2023.

Military spending is therefore expected to hit 2.3% of GDP in 2024-25, significantly above the NATO spending target, though still below the 2.5 per cent call from Mr Shapps.