Former NATO chief warns UK security 'in peril', accuses Treasury of 'vandalism' amid defence plan delay

Britain’s national security is “in peril” and political leaders have shown “corrosive complacency” on defence, former NATO secretary general Lord George Robertson will say in a speech on Tuesday, as he accuses “non‑military experts in the Treasury” of “vandalism”.

Robertson, a former Labour defence secretary who authored the government’s Strategic Defence Review (SDR) and now serves as a key government adviser, is due to use remarks in Salisbury to urge faster action on a promised 10‑year defence investment plan that has been repeatedly delayed.

In what he describes as a directly political intervention, he will warn: “We are underprepared. We are underinsured. We are under attack. We are not safe…

Britain’s national security and safety is in peril,” and argue: “We cannot defend Britain with an ever‑expanding welfare budget.” He will add that “lip service is paid to the risks, the threats, the bright red signals of danger — but even a promised national conversation about defence can’t be started.” The government said the SDR is “backed by the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War, with a total of over £270 billion being invested across this Parliament,” and added: “We are delivering on the Strategic Defence Review to meet the threats we face.” The Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, has previously said the investment plan was on his desk and being “finalised”.

A defence official has highlighted a government target to spend 3% of GDP on defence by the end of the next parliament. There have been reports that the plan has been held up by disagreements within government over how to fund it, as well as how to finance existing defence commitments.

Robertson’s apparent suggestion that money could be found by reducing the welfare bill may be shared by Chancellor Rachel Reeves; however, efforts to make savings in that area were abandoned last year following fierce opposition from backbench Labour MPs.

Mounting pressure to bolster defence spending has followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the re‑election of US President Donald Trump, who has threatened to withdraw US support for NATO.

Speaking to the Today programme, General Sir Richard Barrons — another of the SDR report’s authors — said he agreed with Robertson that “there’s an enormous gap between where we have to be to keep the country safe in the world we now in and where we actually are”.

He warned the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force were “too small and too undernourished”, and predicted NATO would see “a European NATO doing much more and the US doing much less,” adding: “The US cavalry is not coming to bail us out now.” The head of the British military, Chief of the Defence Staff Sir Richard Knighton, told the BBC last month that he rejected accusations the UK had been ill‑prepared for the current conflict in the Middle East, which began on 28 February with a joint US‑Israeli attack on Iran.

He said it was “probably the most dangerous time of the last 30 years”. There were questions as to why a Royal Navy destroyer was not deployed to the region sooner, given the US military build‑up had been going on for months. With the investment plan yet to be published, ministers face continued scrutiny over how they will finance the SDR’s ambitions and meet the stated 3% target by the end of the next parliament.