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

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 “just hoping everything will go away”.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Mr Heappey said the UK was behind allies who had taken steps to reinforce citizens’ 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.

Former armed forces minister James Heappey (Victoria Jones/PA) (PA Archive)

Mr Heappey wrote: “It’s a stark reminder that war is a whole-nation endeavour and, to be frank, in the UK we’re a very long way behind.”

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 “whole of government exercise” which Mr Wallace had “pushed hard for” while serving as defence secretary, aimed at getting ministers and officials into a war bunker to see what their working environment would be.

“In the end, rather depressingly, it was just defence ministers, senior military officers and MoD officials that participated,” Mr Heappey wrote.

Former defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the government was hoping instability would just ‘go away’ (PA Archive)

Mr Wallace told the Daily Telegraph: “The 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.

“It’s how we used to think during the Cold War, and everyone from local government to the MoD played their part.”

While Mr Wallace claimed the MoD had made such a change, he added “there are too many people in Government and society relying on just hoping everything will go away”.

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 £24 billion would invested in the armed forces between 2020 and 2025, which he described as the largest sustained investment since the Cold War.

“The 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,” it added.