Future Capability of the Armed Forces

Debate between Lord Magan of Castletown and Baroness Wheeler

Thursday 16th July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Magan of Castletown (Con)]

My Lords, I am very grateful to my noble friend Lord Harlech for initiating this debate. I declare my interest: my grandfather was a soldier, my father was a soldier, my brother was a soldier and my son was a soldier. My son Edward, a captain in the Irish Guards, saw active service in the second Gulf War in Basra, Iraq, and subsequently served with Special Forces in Afghanistan.

The noble Lord, Lord Coaker, widely respected on all sides of this House, has spoken movingly about members of his own family who served the Crown in conflict. He will recognise, as all serving families necessarily have to, the traumas of uncertainty, apprehension and fear, hoping the telephone is not going to ring, which are part and parcel of such family involvement and commitment. One does not forget those days of such very considerable anxiety. Yet, once again, we face the prospect that our own forces will find themselves increasingly on a front line where technology is changing the character of warfare at the fastest rate in history. The UK is woefully and inadequately prepared for the challenges now likely to be faced. Starmer’s Administration have comprehensively failed to meet their responsibilities for the very necessary further rapid enhancement of the defence of the realm.

It is all the more notable that the noble Lord, Lord Coaker, has presided with increasing exasperation over the extensive debates held in this House on the June 2025 strategic defence review and, subsequently, the long-delayed defence investment plan, which certainly has not, as was promised, delivered a vision of warfaring readiness and transformation over the next 10 years and beyond. In fact, the delayed publication of the defence investment plan in June this year was so poorly received that it led to the immediate resignation of John Healey as Secretary of State for Defence and of the Defence Minister Al Carns, who said that the defence investment plan was

“not built for the threat we face. It is neither transformative … nor sufficiently funded”.

That is a damning indictment of a wholly inadequate, much-delayed priority policy requirement.

Further, Al Carns asked, what will Putin do? When Russia finds itself cornered, it escalates. I believe that Russia will escalate horizontally, sending drones over a NATO country, daring the alliance to respond. We are on the brink of serious conflict, in which the lives of our service men and women are going to be lost, maybe at scale. Responsibility for such potentially disastrous procrastination, prevarication and indecision lies fairly and squarely with outgoing Prime Minister Starmer. The dangers now have to be faced rigorously. There is no time to be lost by incoming Prime Minister Burnham.

First, the total funding package of £15 billion, one-third of which is unfunded—heinous fiscal legerdemain—is woefully inadequate. The Chief of the Defence Staff has made it clear that £28 billion in extra funding is the minimum requirement, committed and delivered on time. Secondly, under the current plan, we will be spending just under 2.7% of GDP on defence in 2030; 3% was the target. John Healey, the outgoing Defence Secretary, has said that we need a target date for 3% and a

“clear, credible funding plan to meet our NATO commitment of 3.5% … by 2035”.

Thirdly, it must be remembered that, at the height of the Cold War, we were committing 5% of GDP to the defence budget. We can do it, but this Labour Administration’s priorities need to be straightened out fast. Fourthly, it is essential that the £10 billion munitions plan is reinstated. It is necessary to rebuild our munitions stockpile, now much depleted, particularly after the war in Ukraine. So where are you, Mr Burnham? Do not keep hiding. Come out and face the music. Show now that you truly have the mettle needed for equipping our forces—

[Captain of the King’s Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard and Deputy Chief Whip (Baroness Wheeler) (Lab)]

I am sorry. Will the noble Lord wind up, please?