UK must boost defence budget to protect 'homeland' against Russian attack, former military chief warns

Britain’s defence budget must be increased to ensure the UK’s armed forces can protect the “homeland” against potential attacks from China or Russia, a former military chief has warned.

Sir Richard Barrons delivered a stark warning to Philip Hammond ahead of the Chancellor’s Budget next month as he said that “the future will not replicate the comfortable recent past”.

The retired senior officer said Britain would be unable to “deal with” an attack by another major power and that it risked losing the ability to protect British citizens during times of “great jeopardy”.

Sir Richard, who until last year led the UK’s Joint Forces Command which has responsibility for preparing for future conflicts, also warned that reducing the size of the British army below 82,000 would be a “problem”.

While the timing of Sir Richard’s intervention is unremarkable, coming as it does just weeks before Mr Hammond is due to deliver his Budget on November 22, his forthright assessment of the UK’s military capabilities is likely to raise eyebrows across Whitehall.

Sir Richard said the UK needed to be prepared to fight “wars of necessity” in the future but he admitted he did not believe his argument would persuade the Chancellor to allocate more funding to the armed forces.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: "I'm sure I haven't convinced him because I'm sure nobody in government is at the minute having the profoundly important debate that we need to have about how the world has changed, how the UK is at greater risk and what we need to be prepared to do in the future because the future will not replicate the comfortable recent past."

Asked to make the case for why money should be taken from other departments and given to the Ministry of Defence instead, he said: "It’s very straightforward.

“The risk today and more so in the future is that countries like Russia and China already have capability that could hold the UK homeland at military risk at very short notice.

"We can't really deal with that and we also run the risk in the future that British citizens or friends abroad will be in great jeopardy, they would need military help and we would have removed the ability to help them and our place in the world would be much diminished and we would be at risk.”

Sir Richard said the size of the UK's army must not shrink below its current level and that investment is needed in other areas.

He said: “I think the army of 82,000 plus a strong reserve of 30,000 is a good place to start. I don’t believe it can be any smaller. Below 82,000 is a problem but it is not the core issue.

“The core issue is what equipment does that Army have and how do you get it to the places it needs to be to do the things it must do.”  

Sir Richard insisted the UK needed to “think about defence in its historically normal context of being prepared for wars of necessity where public opinion demands action”.

“We have to be part of what is a more unstable and difficult world,” he said.

“We cannot preclude in the future the necessity with allies of acting to protect our vital national interests - that’s not like an Iraq or Afghanistan.”