Strength of the UK’s Armed Forces

Stephen Morgan Excerpts

Wednesday 14th April 2021 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Morgan (Portsmouth South) (Lab)]

I associate myself with the remarks and tributes made by the shadow Defence Secretary, the Minister and other Members of this House to the Duke of Edinburgh, who was a great friend of Portsmouth, the heart and home of the Royal Navy.

Let me start by echoing the contributions from across the House that have recognised and honoured the continuing commitment and service of our armed forces. From the imminent departure of the Carrier Strike group from my constituency in Portsmouth to supporting frontline services across the UK as they tackle the pandemic, our armed forces have risen to the unique operational challenges presented by the past year, and which continue to present themselves, with courage, integrity and resilience—something that I know we all admire.

We are here today as a direct result of this Government’s broken promises to our armed forces, and this has been an important debate. My right hon. Friend the Member for Warley (John Spellar) reminded us of a catalogue of examples of successive Tory Governments running down our defence numbers and capabilities, a point echoed by my hon. Friend the Member for St Helens South and Whiston (Ms Rimmer). The Chair of the Defence Committee, the right hon. Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood), also described sweeping cuts and the impact these will have in the busy decade ahead with new threats, and my hon. Friend the Member for Barnsley Central (Dan Jarvis) said so eloquently—as he always does—that retaining talent is so important, and that despite changes to threats, people remain constant.

This Prime Minister promised to end Britain’s “era of retreat”, and that no further cuts would be made to our armed forces. Instead, he has further eroded our fighting strength. Some 45,000 personnel have been cut since 2010; now, the integrated review and Command Paper have confirmed that the Army will be further reduced to just 72,500 by 2025, smaller than at any time since the 1700s. As many Members of this House have already said today, this will sever the historical and prosperous links our armed forces have with communities across the UK and reduce services and pay for those serving, points well made by my hon. Friends the Members for Warrington North (Charlotte Nichols) and for South Shields (Mrs Lewell-Buck). The hon. Member for South West Bedfordshire (Andrew Selous) also stressed the importance of supporting those who serve.

As ever for Conservative Governments, it is cuts today, with the ever-seductive, seemingly undeliverable promise of jam tomorrow in the form of new technology. There can be no doubt that our forces need to modernise, but that leaves our national defences concerningly vulnerable in the medium term. This is particularly worrisome at a time when the integrated review has identified a growing number of sophisticated threats to our national security. While these threats are undeniably evolving and increasingly operate in the grey zone, Russian military build-up on the Ukrainian border is a timely reminder of the need to maintain strong conventional capabilities today as well as to invest for tomorrow. However, the Government also remain silent on any future co-operation with European partners through the common security and defence policy.

As we have heard today, it is not just raw people power that the Army is set to lose; it is set to lose capabilities. Conservative cuts to the conventional strength of our forces with a promise of pioneering technology are nothing new. Tory Ministers promised the same thing in the 2010 and 2015 reviews, yet they failed to deliver. In 2010, they promised a future force by 2020, and in 2015, promised a warfighting division with a strike force by 2025. That is now being promised in 2030. In 2015, the Chief of the Defence Staff said that the ability to field a single warfighting division was

“the standard whereby a credible army is judged.”

However, a recent Defence Committee report on the Army’s armoured vehicle capability says that the division would be “hopelessly under-equipped” and “overmatched” by adversaries.

The integrated review has placed particular importance on carrier strike groups as a platform to project global Britain, yet at least two of the Type 23 frigates that will escort them and specialise in hunting submarines are due to be phased out before the replacements are built, as continued ambiguity around the number of F-35 fighters the Government will order means that we do not have nearly enough to fill both of our aircraft carriers, leaving them vulnerable to missile and drone attacks. In the meantime, as the Royal United Services Institute has pointed out, these sweeping cuts mean that the UK can no longer call itself a tier 1 or full spectrum military power. Despite the Prime Minister’s welcome injection of £16.5 billion in capital funding after a decade of decline, many of the decisions in the integrated review seem to have been driven by finances, as opposed to threats.

It is no secret that successive Conservative Governments have chronically mismanaged the MOD’s budget. The National Audit Office reports a black hole in the defence budget of up to £17 billion, and we are still not clear on how much of the extra money will be swallowed by the deficit in current programmes. After a decade of short-sighted, last-minute decision making and poor procurement practice, our capabilities have fallen behind our allies and potential adversaries, and it is our forces on the ground who will be vulnerable. As right hon. and hon. Members across the House have pointed out, all of this comes at a time when the threats we face are immediate, growing, and complex. My hon. Friend the Member for Bristol North West (Darren Jones) reminded us of the threat that our nation’s security faces from the climate crisis.

Defence of the realm is the first priority of any Government. From the publication of the integrated review and the Defence Command Paper, it is clear that this Government have not only broken their promises on fighting strength but taken a significant gamble with our national security in the medium term. Our adversaries will exploit the continuing holes in our capability, but Labour is determined to ensure that our country can protect itself properly now and in the future. The Government talk up their commitment to our armed forces, but the truth is that they have failed at every turn. Members from across the House have the opportunity to place their concerns on record by voting for this motion, and I hope they will consider our service personnel, still the core of our fighting forces, when they come to vote this evening.