Britain could fund a dramatic modernisation of its armed forces today by reforming a bloated welfare state and ending the ‘wastage’ of billions on equipment like tanks that our NATO allies in Europe already have in far greater numbers, Defence Editor Mark Nicol has argued.
Nicol sat down with Deep Dive podcast host Chris Pleasance to discuss the near year-long delay to Labour’s Defence Investment Plan, a document which is supposed to set out how the government will fund and deliver the reforms recommended in last year’s Strategic Defence Review.
The Strategic Defence Review called on the government to modernise Britain’s armed forces from the ground up, investing in advanced military capabilities such as drones and AI, while putting the threat from Russia at the heart of all future defence spending.
Such a wholesale upgrade to the nation’s military, Nicol said, could cost the Treasury as much as £28 billion at ‘an absolute minimum’. Rumours persist that Rachel Reeves has already negotiated that figure down to closer to £13.5 billion.
Britain could fund a dramatic modernisation of its armed forces today by reforming a bloated welfare state and ending the ‘wastage’ of billions on equipment, Mark Nicol has argued
The Daily Mail’s Defence Editor partly blamed the failure to produce a funding plan on Labour ‘infighting’, accusing some in the party of simply being uninterested in investing in Britain’s armed forces. Any shortfall, Nicol argued, could be remedied today by getting serious about Britain’s spiralling welfare bill.
He said: ‘I am frustrated personally, as well as others in the defence space, as to why we are not committing to more defence spending now. It seems like it is being pushed to the very end of the Parliamentary cycle.
‘If there was a commitment to reform the welfare state, which continues to grow, then you could make a larger commitment on defence today.
‘The threat is real. The difficulties that Putin is experiencing in Ukraine will only lead him to escalate the conflict. It’s no accident that they are jamming Ukrainian drones and crashing them into Moldova and Romania.
‘This conflict is no longer confined to Ukraine.’
Prime Minister Keir Starmer himself warned just days ago that British intelligence assessments have concluded a Russian attack on a NATO member state could come as early as 2030.
Beyond welfare reform, Nicol said Britain could better stretch its defence budget by moving away from investing in equipment its allies already have in spades.
One example is the £6.3 billion spent on Ajax, the Ministry of Defence’s armoured reconnaissance vehicle.
Ajax left soldiers reporting injuries as recently as last year, nearly a decade after it was supposed to enter service. Nicol argued the whole venture seems frivolous when Poland alone fields thousands of armoured vehicles.
Such a wholesale upgrade to the nation’s military, Nicol said, could cost the Treasury as much as £28 billion at ‘an absolute minimum’. Rumours persist that Rachel Reeves has already negotiated that figure down to closer to £13.5 billion
Beyond welfare reform, Nicol said Britain could better stretch its defence budget by moving away from investing in equipment its allies already have in spades
‘One of the problems Britain has is a status issue’, Nicol began.
‘The leading nations in NATO are expected to provide all capabilities to the alliance, so for that reason, Britain has to continue with tanks, for example.
‘We have so few tanks compared to the Poles, so adding more does not generate value for money or even combat effectiveness.
‘We have to leave certain technologies, certain capabilities to other member states.’
Hear Nicol’s full assessment of Britain’s defence funding crisis, and why he believes the UK remains a formidable NATO ally despite its challenges, by searching for Deep Dive now, wherever you get your podcasts.
