Sir Keir Starmer is facing pressure to hike defence spending further after Vladimir Putin warned Russia was “ready for war” with Europe.
The Prime Minister evaded a question in the Commons on Wednesday as to whether the UK was ready to defend itself from Putin, prompting warnings that Britain was “entirely unprepared for war”.
Putin’s comments came after he again rejected US-led peace efforts to end the war in Ukraine, complaining that Kyiv and Europe had made unacceptable changes to a draft peace plan.
The comments were dismissed by the UK as “sabre-rattling” while Starmer’s official spokesman described them as “Russian claptrap”.
But the PM’s refusal in the Commons to say the UK was ready for war sparked concern and calls for an acceleration in defence spending, which Starmer has already promised to increase to 2.5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) by April 2027, with an ambition to reach 3 per cent in the next Parliament.
It came as Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte told a meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers that they had to hike defence spending to 5 per cent of GDP, adding: “This is not just about numbers; it is about building a stronger, more adaptable alliance capable of deterring any aggression and defending every inch of allied territory.”
‘Grave questions over the UK’s ability to defend itself’
Commons Defence Committee chair, the Labour MP Tan Dhesi, also warned “we need to accelerate investment in defence” due to “grave” concerns about the UK’s ability to defend itself.
The Labour MP told The i Paper: “The full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine has acted as a catalyst for much of the instability and uncertainty the UK faces, and the UK Government must respond accordingly. My Committee’s recent report on ‘UK Contribution to European Security’ raised grave questions over the UK’s ability to defend itself; and our concerns have yet to be alleviated.
“The thinly veiled threats from Putin to Ukraine’s allies should galvanise the Government’s efforts to ensure we are ready to defend our homeland and overseas territories and fulfil our Nato commitments. The time to act is now.”
Conservative grandee Sir Bernard Jenkin quizzed Starmer on Putin’s comments in the Commons but claimed he “failed to answer” the question on UK readiness.
Jenkin, who will lead a Commons debate on Ukraine on Thursday, warned that existing commitments to increase defence spending were “not a very big uplift” for a Ministry of Defence “already in crisis”, claiming the money committed “isn’t enough to bail out the black hole in the defence budget”.
The former shadow defence secretary said: “Putin, in a complete distortion of reality, has suggested Russia is ready for war with Europe.
“The question is: how ready are we?
“The Prime Minister failed to answer that question when I just asked him.
“We need to mobilise the whole of society and our economy and spend far more on defence in order to get ready for war, if we don’t want to have to fight one.”
Undersea cables ‘particularly vulnerable’
Ex-defence minister Tobias Ellwood meanwhile warned: “We are entirely unprepared for war.
“We can’t even defend our own territorial integrity around our seas, so we are constantly probed and attacked on the maritime front, particularly vulnerable on the undersea cables – it’s only a matter of time before there is a cataclysmic attack on that scale, a number of cables clipped at the same time which will cause economic mayhem and political discord.
“Perhaps only then the penny will drop that we need to pour money into defence, because our defence and security is the same thing.”
The debate came after Jenkin quizzed Starmer in the Commons, saying: “In the light of his [Putin’s] extraordinary outburst designed to destabilise our understanding of the truth, he did say Russia is ready for war with Nato. How ready are we?”
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Starmer did not directly address the question in his answer, instead accusing Putin of “dragging his feet” in peace talks.
Pressed afterwards on whether Britain was prepared, the PM’s spokesman said “our armed forces always stand ready to defend this country” and that “this is yet more Kremlin claptrap from a president who isn’t serious about peace”.
In February Starmer announced an increase in defence spending from 2.3 to 2.5 per cent and in June he also pledged to increase spending on defence and national security to 5 per cent of GDP by 2035, saying: “We must navigate this era of radical uncertainty with agility, speed and a clear-eyed sense of the national interest to deliver security for working people and keep them safe.”
The Ministry of Defence was approached for comment.
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