UK has failed to prepare enough for war, former defence ministers say
Two former defence ministers claimed the UK had failed to prepare for war and urged government to do more
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Your support makes all the difference.Britain has failed to prepare for war and has fallen behind their allies in preparedness, two former defence ministers have warned.
Former armed forces minister James Heappey revealed that only Ministry of Defence (MoD) officials turned up to an exercise to prepare for wartime scenarios which was meant for the whole of Government.
Ben Wallace, former defence secretary, agreed and said too many in government were ājust hoping everything will go awayā.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Mr Heappey said the UK was behind allies who had taken steps to reinforce citizensā preparedness for war.
He gave the example of Sweden, where the government has handed out a booklet explaining what to do in a time of war, including which emergency food provisions to store.
Mr Heappey wrote: āItās a stark reminder that war is a whole-nation endeavour and, to be frank, in the UK weāre a very long way behind.ā
The former soldier, who resigned as a minister at the end of March, said ministers across the Government needed to explain how Britain would feed itself during a war, and how public services would work.
The Conservative MP said not enough figures within government were considering these preparations.
He pointed to a āwhole of government exerciseā which Mr Wallace had āpushed hard forā while serving as defence secretary, aimed at getting ministers and officials into a war bunker to see what their working environment would be.
āIn the end, rather depressingly, it was just defence ministers, senior military officers and MoD officials that participated,ā Mr Heappey wrote.
Mr Wallace told the Daily Telegraph: āThe growing instability and insecurity directed at Britain and her allies means that the whole of society needs to make a step change towards recognising that our core duty is to think about our defence and our resilience.
āItās how we used to think during the Cold War, and everyone from local government to the MoD played their part.ā
While Mr Wallace claimed the MoD had made such a change, he added āthere are too many people in Government and society relying on just hoping everything will go awayā.
The intervention from the two long-serving defence ministers came as Rishi Sunak faces pressure to increase defence spending.
A government spokesperson said an extra Ā£24 billion would invested in the armed forces between 2020 and 2025, which he described as the largest sustained investment since the Cold War.
āThe UK has robust plans in place for a range of potential emergencies and scenarios, with plans and supporting arrangements developed, refined and tested over many years,ā it added.
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