Labour is told the best way to deter attacks is get the strongest defences in place – but it must be ‘honest’ with the public
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has heightened fears of a wider war (Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Labour has been urged to be “honest” with the nation about the new threat of war and tackle public fear by building the strongest possible defences. Former Defence Secretary Dame Penny Mordaunt wants Britons given the skills needed to keep the country running if the nation is embroiled in conflict.
Pressing for people to be trained to respond if civil infrastructure is attacked, she said: “Britons have incredible skills and an attitude to step up and help. We should be equipping them to do that in the wake of an attack.”
President Trump’s determination to take control of Greenland has stirred fears for the future of Nato at a time when Russia’s war machine continues to devastate swathes of Ukraine.
Dame Penny said: “Politicians can calm concerns by showing they are on the front foot; that the UK is well prepared at home, capable of defending her international interests and deterring those who wish to damage them.”
Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge warned the scale of threat post-Ukraine is “real and unprecedented”.
He said: “We need a total focus across Government on rearmament and war readiness, because the best way to avoid war is to deter it from happening in the first place.”
Lord Dannatt, the former Chief of the General Staff, the de facto head of the British Army, said: “I believe the Government needs to be open and honest with the people of this country about the threats to our security that we face. Part of this openness and honesty is to set out clearly the rate at which we will be increasing defence expenditure.
“The people will then know that the Government takes the threats to our security seriously. There also needs to be a greater and more comprehensive flow of information about the practical steps and preparations that people should take or make.”
Lord Richards, former Chief of the Defence Staff, said it was wrong to focus efforts on how Britons can survive a future war.
He said: “Our focus should be on deterring war, not preparing to survive one. In a thermonuclear era, this is a deadly fools’ errand.
“With our allies, we need quickly to reinvest in our armed forces so the likely penalties of any hostile adventurism on the part of Russia, or any other state, outweigh any possible gains. This, combined with diplomacy and doing what is best for our greater prosperity, will allow us to return to pragmatic coexistence with potential adversaries.”
Dame Penny Mordaunt fears the UK could ‘soon be embroiled in terrible conflict’ (Image: Jonathan Buckmaster)
Former Leader of the Commons Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg argued increasing defence investment is the best way of calming fears.
He said: “If you want peace, prepare for war. The best way to reassure people who are fearful that we will be embroiled in a war is to increase the effectiveness and funding of our armed forces.”
Retired Major General Tim Cross hiked up the pressure on the Government, saying: [If] we are to avoid being drawn into high intensity warfare – a shooting war – then we need the Government to come clean on when they will actually start to increase defence spending – rather than just talk about it – and tell us what they will spend the money on.”
He added: “We will only deter today’s threats by strengthening our defence capabilities – rebuilding our armed forces and their ability to fight a prolonged war, along with building community resilience, which takes time, and the time to start doing it is now.”
Retired Air Marshal Edward Stringer, a senior fellow at the Policy Exchange think tank, said Britain’s allies in “Scandinavia and the Baltics” never lost sight of the importance of “making society resilient and able to support capable armed forces and alliances”.
He said: “Their societies are admirably vibrant and happy places. Who knows, in rediscovering a sense of mission we might also find some binding national purpose.”
A paper from the think tank co-authored by former Chief of the Defence Staff Lord Stirrup warns: “The United Kingdom and her allies face the most serious threat to their security since the fall of the Soviet Union.”
Russia’s attacks on Ukraine have brought war to a European nation in the 21st century (Image: AP)
A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: “National security is our first duty and we’ve wasted no time boosting the country’s resilience. In the past 12 months alone, we’ve opened a Resilience Academy that will train thousands of people each year in crisis response, conducted the largest pandemic exercise in our country’s history, and tested the Emergency Alert system on millions of phones across the UK.”
