UK: Why Starmer and Reeves face backlash over ‘corrosive complacency’

Lord George Robertson, the lead author of the government’s own Strategic Defence review (SDR) and former NATO chief, is accusing Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves of failing to act on urgent military threats. Robertson warns that Britain is “underinsured” and “not safe,” describing the current state of the armed forces as “hollowed-out” and in peril. 

Lord Robertson criticizes the Chancellor for prioritizing “vast welfare spending” over the defence budget, stating that Britain cannot be defended with an ever-expanding welfare budget.” The Labour grandee will say that Donald Trump’s war in Iran “has to be a rude wake-up call”.

Sir Keir has not yet published a major 10-year-plan for new investment in the Royal Navy, army and Royal Air Force. This delay implies that defense companies are worried about job security and the UK’s ability to return to war-footing-something the prime minister has said is compulsory. The Defense Investment Plan (DIP) should have been released last autumn in the wake of Lord Robertson’s Strategic Defense Review, following decades of underinvestment.

Given the situation, Ms Reeves will be called out for her gross negligence which should be the top priority of any government. To this point, Lord Robertson says that she used “a more 40 words on defence in over an hour” during her Budget speech, while last month in the Spring Statement, she used none”. Sir Keir has promised to increase defence spending to 3% of GDP-up from just over 2%-but not until the next parliament. A government spokesperson was quoted in the FT as saying: “We are delivering on the Strategic Defence Review to meet the threats we face.”

“It is backed by the largest sustained increase in defense spending since the cold war, with a total of over £270bn being invested across this parliament.” In addition, the government is in the process of finalizing the DIP and will publicize it as soon as possible.