MPs and peers have warned that the Government’s national security plans lack sufficient detail, particularly around funding, resilience and how strategy will translate into real capability.
A new report by the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy says ministers must provide far clearer explanations of how commitments set out in the 2025 strategy will actually be delivered. It calls for “credible funding arrangements”, stronger civil resilience measures and more robust plans to develop sovereign capabilities.
The committee also raises concerns about how planned spending will be used. While the Government has set a target of spending 1.5% of GDP on security and resilience, MPs and peers say there is little clarity on what this will achieve in practice, urging ministers to prioritise “long-term resilience and new capabilities”.
There is particular focus on the UK’s defence industrial base, with the report calling for the Defence Investment Plan to be published as soon as possible. It says the plan should set out how firms, especially SMEs, will be supported and how the UK can avoid losing key capabilities to foreign ownership.
The report also highlights gaps in planning for critical national infrastructure, including how military reservists would be used to protect assets such as undersea cables and energy pipelines. It says more detail is needed on how these forces would be deployed in a crisis. On wider strategy, the committee argues the Government’s “whole-of-society” approach to security is not yet clearly understood, calling for more detail on plans for a national conversation around resilience.
Chair Matt Western said: “This report makes clear the tough choices the Government will have to make to keep UK citizens safe.” He added that while the strategy sets out a framework for dealing with a more volatile world, “the Government must now deliver.”
Can the defence select committee request the attendance of Cameron, Osborne, May, Fox, Williamson, Johnson, Sunak, Hunt in order to grill them on why they knowingly decimated our capabilities. They need to be held to account.
Starmer is no better he’s still not ordered a single FJ or additional capability.
Bravo!
There is no clarity or detail, as that would expose what little is going to happen, regards funds and actually buying kit and expanding the forces.
Add Wallace, add Brown, add Blair, add Hutton, add Des Browne, and all the others, such a thing needs to go back to 1995 Front Line First, which was the first unnecessary review after OFC 91.
Thirty years of nonsense and as usual we are waiting for yet another useless government to cover their collective arse before they dare publish anything.