European countries’ security is decreasing daily. David Cameron asked NATO member countries to increase their military spending to 2.5% of GDP. The increase in defence spending is one of NATO’s main issues, which Stoltenberg first raised. Just a few days ago, the U.K. Prime Minister said that London is increasing its investment and capabilities in nuclear deterrence. Sunak plans to put this country’s military industry in a state of war.
Britain calls for NATO to take more decisive action against Russia.
The U.K. Prime Minister claims that international threats are increasing and the world is becoming a more dangerous place than it was at the end of the Cold War. The war between Ukraine and Russia has negatively affected European countries’ security. According to the U.K. government, especially considering Russia’s war in Ukraine, the Western defence alliance should become more challenging and decisive. In this context, Cameron emphasized that the illegal invasion of Russian President Vladimir Putin showed that acting too late and insufficiently only encourages an aggressor.
The U.K. seeks to strengthen European countries’ security.
Britain wants to strengthen old British partnerships, including the G7 alliance of the largest industrialized countries and the Five Eyes intelligence alliance of the U.K., the United States, Canada, and Australia. The U.K. foreign secretary also wants to promote new partnerships, such as the AUKUS military alliance with the U.S. and Australia, established in 2021.
NATO countries want to increase the military budget
European countries’ security are terrified of the continuation of the war between Ukraine and Russia. At the Wales meeting 2014, NATO members pledged to spend two per cent of their economic output on defence. Given the war in Ukraine, the United States has long insisted that this is the bottom line. However, most NATO member states are still working to reach the two per cent mark. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius warned last year that this goal will not be immediately achievable for most economies. Germany wants to achieve this goal for the first time this year.
The promise of increasing the British military budget until 2030
Sunak held a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the Polish military base. He said that his country had designed plans to increase the military budget to 2.5 per cent of the country’s GDP by 2030. Rishi Sunak said that this country plans to put the country’s military industries in a state of war by allocating 12 billion dollars.
Increasing the research budget in the military field
Sunak has announced that it will allocate at least five per cent of the military budget to research and development in the military field. “We will put the U.K.’s defence industry on a war footing,” Sunak said. One of the central lessons of the war in Ukraine is that we need deeper stockpiles of munitions and for industry to be able to replenish them more quickly.”
Britain wants to strengthen nuclear deterrence.
Penny Mordaunt, leader of the House of Commons, stated in a note to the Daily Mail that the U.K. had not strengthened its military power like other European countries and emphasized the need to increase the country’s defence budget. Sunak believes that authoritarian countries are worried about the U.K. government.
The private nature of arms companies influences European countries’ security.
Sunak said that Ukraine’s weapons warehouses should not be emptied. You said that the U.K. is trying to replenish the stocks. Most of the arms companies are owned by the private sector. The countries allied with Ukraine have not been able to meet this country’s needs in the war with Russia. Due to the uncertainty of the status of purchase orders in the long term, weapons factories consider increasing the capacity of military production to be risky.
Great weakness in the British Army
According to reports, the British Army suffers from a severe workforce shortage and weapons. Richard Kemp, the retired commander of this country’s military, recently admitted: “I would say that certainly, since the Second World War, the British Army has not been anything like as weak as it is today. And I think we don’t have the capability, for example, to fight, as we did in the first Gulf War with the combat power we had there.”
The inability of the British Army to defend national interests
Sky News’s findings also show that if there is a war, the British armed forces will run out of ammunition within a few days. Britain cannot defend its skies against the missile and drone attacks that Ukraine is enduring. It takes five to ten years for the Army to field a combat division of 25,000 to 30,000 soldiers supported by tanks, artillery, and helicopters.
Sunak tries to solve the problem of the British Army being too small.
The Times reported that the British Army was too small to fight. The Army of this country is not considered a high-level military force by the United States. British military officials are therefore worried that if this country is attacked, it will lack the necessary power to defend itself. For this reason, Sunak’s government is trying to increase the British military capability. He is trying to improve the military budget. It also promotes nuclear deterrence. All this is in a situation where the U.K.’s economic crisis is critical. Also, the British would like to improve the performance of Sunak’s government.
