Ministers must increase defence spending to tackle growing international threats or risk repeating the same mistakes as the 1930s, senior Conservative Tobias Ellwood has warned
, Mr Ellwood lamented Britain’s slump in the eyes of the US from a “tier one to a tier three” nation in terms of military capability, andthat the UK is unable to meet its requirements as a rapid response force.
Mr Ellwood writes: “With authoritarianism on the rise, international institutions unable to hold errant states to account and a lack of clarity as to what the West believes in, stands for and is willing to defend – no wonder the head of the British Army compared our world today with the 1930’s. There’s no doubt we’ve entered a new era of insecurity.”
The UK Armed Forces’ ageing and heavily depleted hardware, such as the 20-year-old Challenger 2 tank and the 50 year old Scimitar reconnaissance vehicle, is in need of serious updating of the UK is to continue having a role on the international stage, he cautions. “We simply can’t do that if our Army is too small. And if we don’t step forward – who will? It’s time rekindle our statecraft skills and increase our defence spending to 3 per cent. Or like in the 1930’s we may just regret it.”
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