A new parliamentary question submitted by Martin Wrigley, Liberal Democrat MP for Newton Abbot, calls on the Government to evaluate the effectiveness of its security response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and examine how those lessons might have influenced the events leading up to the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, according to a press release.
In response, Luke Pollard, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Ministry of Defence, stated in the written answer that “The Prime Minister made clear in his statement to the House on 25 February 2025 that this Government is actively responding to the security situation regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. We have already commissioned a Strategic Defence Review (SDR) to examine the whole of Defence and identify where reprioritisation of roles, capabilities, activities, and support may be made in the current Defence programme to allow new investment, achieve better value for money, and secure greater economic gain for the UK.”
Pollard explained that the final review report will be delivered this spring to the Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the Secretary of State, with Parliament to be briefed afterward.
Pollard also highlighted that “this Government is … beginning the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War, reaching 2.5% of GDP from April 2027, maintaining that level for the rest of this Parliament, and then setting a clear ambition for defence spending to rise to 3% in the next Parliament.”
