Keir Starmer orders strategic defence review of Britain’s ‘hollowed out’ armed forces

Britain’s defence spending has been repeatedly cut by previous governments, while other Nato states have made substantial increases. Germany’s 2024 defence budget is now bigger than Britain’s for the first time since the Second World War, at £77.5bn compared with £63.9bn. As a result, “large parts of the UK’s armed forces lack the critical enablers, munitions, and maintenance capabilities they need to be match-fit for Nato’s front line against Russia”, says Malcolm Chalmers, deputy director general of think tank RUSI. Spending on Britain’s own conventional forces has not risen in real terms since 2022. What is needed, Chalmers adds, “is a guarantee of steady and substantial real-term growth each year for a decade or more”.