Military must modernise to ‘earn’ post-war prosperity once again, says minister
The armed forces minister said increasing defence spending to 2.5% was the start of a much bigger process of building a modern military.
Europe must once again “earn” the peace and prosperity it has enjoyed since 1945, the armed forces minister has said as he called for the modernisation of UK defence.
Warning that UK defence policy remained “fundamentally shaped” by the demands of the post-Cold War era, Luke Pollard told a conference at Chatham House that raising defence spending to 2.5% of GDP was “just the starting gun” in a race to modernisation.
He said: “The more fundamental challenge is to fully bring our armed forces into the modern era and build a leading, tech-enabled military capable of deterring, fighting and winning through constant innovation at a wartime pace.”
His comments come as Europe grapples with uncertainty over the US’s commitments to Nato and fears that, should Russia defeat Ukraine, further incursions into Europe could follow.
Earlier in the day, the Chatham House conference had heard warnings from the Ukrainian ambassador to the UK that Nato could cease to exist and Vladimir Putin may target Europe in light of Donald Trump’s change in stance over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Mr Pollard added: “The peace and prosperity that Europe has enjoyed since 1945 is the longest such period for many centuries.
“But it is important to recognise that we have no natural right to that peace and prosperity, and we once again have to earn it by transforming the whole of defence and how it supports the armed forces, by investing in new capabilities and strengths, by bolstering our collective security through partnerships and alliances, and by innovating and reforming at a wartime pace.”
Discussing the need to overhaul military procurement, Mr Pollard said politicians should “move away from the romanticism of old kit, to accept the retirement of old kit that might have served us well for decades but is not suitable to defend us in the future.”
But he urged the military not to be “over-Gucci” in demanding highly specific equipment that can only be used by the UK, saying: “Then, because we’ve made it so specialist, we can’t get as much of it as we wanted to in the first place.
“Let’s start producing stuff that is designed to be Nato-standard, that is designed for export.”
Mr Pollard also pledged to cut defence bureaucracy, criticising a system where some areas had “11 checkers for each decision-maker” and the company running the naval dockyard at Devonport had to tell the Ministry of Defence every day whether it was snowing or not.
