Government must go ‘further and faster’ to prepare for war within 1,000 days, peers warn

The Government must go “further and faster” to prepare for war within 1,000 days, a group of peers have warned.

A new report from the Lords Industry and Regulators Committee says the defence industry cannot “move quickly enough” to protect Britain without changes to its relationship with companies.

Government must also change the current regulatory system, the peers warned, urging Labour to “remove overly prescriptive requirements” which impede innovative defence solutions.

Wes Streeting, after the rollout of Labour’s “Be Ready” preparedness campaign, said his “defining priority” was to ensure Britain was ready for conflict by 2030.

Labour has come under fire for failing to detail how it plans to reach John Healey’s own target of spending three per cent of GDP on defence by 2030, a key point before Nato’s target of 3.5 per cent by 2035.

Peers have now called for a “significant shift in the culture” at the Ministry of Defence, which peers said has “too often focused on the comfort blanket of following process rather than delivering capability at speed”.

The committee said the Government’s current red tape was intended to reduce the risk of wasting taxpayer funds.

“This has slowed down procurement without obviously reducing waste,” the peers added.

“The Ministry of Defence must become more comfortable with greater flexibility and risk in its procurement of new capabilities, accepting that the finished product might not be as initially envisaged, that failure can be instructive, and that speed can be more important than cost management.”

The committee, chaired by Baroness Hayter, also called for the Government to provide further support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), stressing that the firms provide “much innovation and experimentation, and who support larger, prime contractors in delivering broader capabilities”.

It also welcomed the Strategic Defence Review’s calls for a new, collaborative partnership between the Government and industry, adding that its recommendations focus on “where the Government must go further and faster”.

“If the Government continues its arms-length, buyer-seller relationship with industry delivering against detailed and prescriptive technical specifications, industry will not be able to move quickly enough to exploit fast-developing technology or to protect the UK in the event of war,” the committee warned.

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Baroness Hayter, chairwoman of the Industry and Regulators Committee, said: “With ongoing threats from Russia and other malign actors, the Government must show the necessary leadership and move at pace to achieve the Defence Secretary’s target of being ready for action within 1,000 days and use the December 1 Defence Investment Summit to provide certainty to business to drive the new partnership forward.”

Dan Jarvis, the Minister of State for Security, told GB News the “world is a pretty challenging place at the moment”, but assured Britons that we can “always depend on those professionals who serve in our armed forces”.

The warning follows the Royal Navy’s deployment of its first autonomous squadron, the first step to building a “hybrid navy” that combines conventional warships with uncrewed vessels.

General Sir Gwyn Jenkins, the First Sea Lord, has led calls for upgrades and said Britain must “prepare for war if you want peace”.

The Conservatives, meanwhile, have slammed Labour for refusing to cut welfare to fund defence. Kemi Badenoch detailed how her party would slash the ballooning benefits bill on Monday.

The Defence Secretary has previously insisted he was “100 per cent” confident Andy Burnham would meet Nato commitments.

Mr Healey has also said next year’s spending review would set a course to meet his target.

A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: “This Government is delivering the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War, investing almost £300 billion to transform our Armed Forces to warfighting readiness to keep Britain safe.

“We are driving reforms to deliver capability faster, secure better value for money, and strengthen the UK defence industrial base.

“This includes increasing spending with SMEs by £2.5billion and our Office for Small Business Growth is reducing barriers to entry, helping more SMEs win defence contracts and backing British firms.”