Britain’s ability to fight a future war against Russia is being damaged by a procurement “vacuum” created by delays in Whitehall over a crucial blueprint setting out the UK’s military spending, senior defence figures have told The i Paper.
The Government is under increasing pressure to deliver its long-delayed Defence Investment Plan (DIP) – which has promised to overhaul Britain’s military capabilities with about £300bn of investment over a decade – after criticism that the Iran war has exposed deep UK military frailties.
However, wrangling between the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the Treasury over a reported £28bn funding gap means the DIP blueprint, originally expected last October, is now not expected to be delivered until June at the earliest.
General Sir Richard Barrons, former director of operations for UK Armed Forces and co-author of last year’s landmark Strategic Defence Review, said he is “frankly alarmed” at the Government’s slow progress in bolstering Britain’s Armed Forces. He told The i Paper the delays create a “damaging” sense “of there being a lot of time to put matters right”.
Kevin Craven, chief executive of ADS Group, which represents some 1,700 UK defence and aerospace companies, warned of a “knock-on effect” for the ability of Britain’s Armed Forces to confront any attempt by Vladimir Putin to attack Nato. He said: “It feels like a vacuum. The decision-making is not quick enough and it’s a really difficult environment for people to make business decisions.”
Defence Secretary John Healey insisted the Government was working to “put right” previous procurement programmes under the Conservatives, which were “unsuited to the threats we face”. He added: “We will publish the investment plan as soon as we can.”
