Labour and Conservative MPs, along with a former senior NATO adviser, said the UK needs to do more to prepare for a potential war.
British Army does not have enough soldiers, experts warn (Image: Getty)
The UK is no longer protected by the US and must prepare itself for war, MPs and a former senior NATO adviser have warned. President Donald Trump’s America First doctrine no longer provides security guarantees for the UK, as has been the case for decades. The assumption that the US would have to respond to a Russian attack on a NATO ally under Article 5 is “no longer valid” and has now put the “final nail in the coffin” to the post-Second World War settlement.
The report by Civitas said: “Today’s US is not only no longer acting within the framework and constraints of its traditional alliances, it is already acting in a manner which can be perceived as being contrary to the interests of some of its allies.
“President Trump, it seems is even looking towards Russia as a potential business partner; the Kremlin and the White House appear to be quietly normalising commercial and diplomatic relations.”
The report, titled Understanding the UK’s Transition to Warfighting Readiness, was penned by MPs Bernard Jenkins (Conservative), Derek Twigg (Labour) and the former senior NATO adviser Chris Donnelly, GB News reported.
They also criticised the UK’s “sclerotic” processes, which have remained unchanged for 70 years of peace and prosperity.
In a foreword to the report, Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, a former NATO secretary-general and the chair of Labour’s recent defence review, said: “The UK is under-prepared and under attack.”
“New forms of governance and the development of a war-capable political process are well overdue,” the report further claims.
World War One military conscription (Image: Getty)
The report advocates that the Government invest more in new technologies so frontline personnel can carry out more targeted interventions, increase cyber defences, or strengthen new partnerships, such as with India.
The authors claim that the new strategic defence review did not acknowledge that “in many respects we are on the potential cusp of war and that kinetic war may come to us when we least expect it, sooner rather than later”.
Britain’s Army, shrinking to around 70,000 regular troops, is also a cause for concern for allies, who believe the number is simply too small.
The report also focuses on the role of education and civil society in preparing the country, and the authors call for a whole-of-society mobilisation with adaptable governance.
Conscription, or the draft, is the mandatory enrollment of citizens into national service enforced by law. It is usually applied to young men at the age of 18 for a specific period. However, countries like Norway, Sweden and Denmark include women.
At the moment, there is no conscription or requirement for military service in the UK. The British armed forces are a professional volunteer force. In the UK, military conscription has existed for two periods in modern times. The first was from 1916 to 1920, and the second from 1939 to 1960. The last conscripted soldiers left the service in 1963.
Conscription is in place for ten of Europe’s NATO states: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, Turkey and, most recently, Croatia.
