UK (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Britain’s defence minister warns that the army could face collapse within six months during a major war, urging for stronger reserves to address readiness and recruitment struggles.
The UK defence minister has issued a stark warning that the British army could be overwhelmed in major conflicts like Ukraine.
Alistair Carns, the veteran’s minister, highlighted Russia’s daily loss of 1500 soldiers losses in Ukraine, as evidence of the necessity to rebuild the UK’s military reserves.
He said, “In a war of scale – not a limited intervention, but one similar to Ukraine – our army for example on the current casualty rates would be expended, as part of a broader multinational coalition, in six months to a year.”
Mr Carn’s statement comes weeks after Defence Secretary John Healey’s recent remarks that the British military lacks the capacity to defend against a major invasion.
In a critical evaluation of the UK’s defences, John Healey stated that while the military is capable of conducting operations, “what we’ve not been ready to do is to fight.”
As reported by the BBC, the official figures reveal that the army had 109,245 members on 1 October, including 25,814 volunteer reservists.
Speaking at a conference on reserves at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) in London, Carns, the minister for veterans and people stated, “That doesn’t mean to say we need a bigger army, but it does mean we must be able to generate depth and mass rapidly in the event of a crisis.”
He said reserves are important, completely central, to that process.
Mr Carns added, “Without them we cannot generate mass, we cannot meet the plethora of defence tasks and challenges that we require, and we cannot seamlessly integrate the very best experts into the heart of our armed forces.”
While speaking he expressed hope that a major review of the UK’s defences, ready for publication in the spring, would create an opportunity to “write a new deal for our services.”
The Independent news reports that the Labour government, after its victory in the July election, prioritized a comprehensive “root and branch” review of Britain’s defence strength.
Prime Minister Sir Starmer criticized 14 years of Conservative neglect for leaving British defences “hollowed out” and urged to raise defence spending to 2.5% of GDP.
Parliament’s defence committee has raised concerns about Britain’s insufficient war readiness, insisting it is important to deter potential threats.
According to a powerful group of MPs, the military is under a “consistent overstretch,” with the “unrelenting pressure” on personnel continuing to contribute to a recruitment and retention crisis, as more people are leaving the armed forces than joining.
The spokesperson from the defence ministry said the UK’s armed forces were “amongst the best in the world and offer a 24/7 defence of the UK, operating alongside our allies and partners to prepare for any event”.
They added, “Our Reserves are an essential and extremely valued element of the Armed Forces and the contributions they make to our resilience and our ability to call on additional personnel when required are vital.”
Sir Keir Starmer’s official spokesman previously stated that the Budget had “invested billions of pounds into defence.”