Labor has warned the UK is “not as resilient as it should be” after Sky News found the government had no national plan to defend the country.
Previous Sky News reports have also found there is no national plan to mobilize people and industry in the event of war.
Ministers warn Britain is heading towards a ‘pre-war world’ amid growing concerns Russia, China and Iran.
But this was not accompanied by a Cold War-style plan.
Read more: Is Britain preparing for war amid threat of conflict?
Darren Jones, Labour’s shadow treasurer, told Sky News the UK was “not resilient enough to global shocks, whether war, climate or pandemics”.
He said: “For too long we have not had supply chains that were strong enough to increase our resilience to these events, and as a result people have suffered the consequences of inflation and issues such as energy bills and living costs.
“From a Labor perspective we do agree with you that the UK is not as resilient as it should be and measures should be taken.”
He said Labor wanted to review defense spending but the opposition could not do so because Labor did not have all the information.
“It’s clear that the way the defense budget is spent … needs to be better,” he said.
Read more from Sky News:
British commandos train with huskies in the Arctic Circle
Ministers urge government to increase defense spending
Is Britain ready for future wars?
Atlantic Council senior fellow Elisabeth Braw revealed the news to Sky News Defense and Security Editor Deborah Haynes “Not surprising.”
She added that while the armed forces did their job “extremely well”, “very little attention is paid to other parts of society which have to be part of any defense in the event of war”.
Ms. Blau said the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated this.
“This was clearly not an act of war,” she said. “But we saw that the UK was ill-prepared, or unprepared, for a crisis like this and wider society didn’t know what to do.
“If there is an armed conflict, we will be in the same situation because there is no preparation.”
Dr Patricia Lewis, head of the international security program at the Chatham House think tank, said it had been more than a decade since the country’s plans were presented to the parliamentary defense committee – although she did caution that, as in fact Planning may be in the background.
Correcting the problem may have begun, but funding may be an issue, she said.
“I think one of the important things is to think about what capabilities we have now that are truly operational and capable enough to deploy and really focus on that … and have the ability to ramp up manufacturing capabilities,” Dr. Lewis said.
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Questions remain over when the government will increase defense spending from 2% to 2.5% of GDP, and despite calls from ministers and backbenchers for further action, it has only pledged to do so “as economic conditions permit”.
In response to Sky’s original article, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense said: “We have developed a series of plans to ensure national security and review and adjust these plans in light of international security developments.
“These plans will be incorporated as part of our ongoing work to develop a cross-government defense plan that will further enhance our preparedness and enhance our deterrence into the future.”
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