The Defence Secretary has admitted he would like more money from the Treasury to protect Britain as the country faces a new era of threats.
John Healey put pressure on the Chancellor Rachel Reeves the day after a sickening month-long Russian plot to sabotage British undersea cables was exposed.
In a demonstration of brazen contempt for British territorial waters, the Kremlin sent three submarines into the English Channel daring the UK respond militarily.
Vladimir Putin’s show of strength exposed the UK’s chronic ship shortage as Britain’s only available destroyer HMS Dragon was in the Eastern Mediterranean.
While Healey insisted the government would spend more in future years, billions of pounds in additional funding are required today according to defence sources.
Speaking at the London Defence Conference this morning, Healey said: ‘Would I like more resources? Yes, I would. Every Defence Secretary would. Those [resources] will increase.
‘Yesterday was an important reminder that while all eyes are on the conflict in the Middle East, the primary threat is rising Russian activity.
‘Yesterday we exposed a failed covert Russian operation. We know Russia operates with deniability, we have seen in the Baltics cables cut by suspect vessels. Yesterday we said to Putin we see you, we are exposing you and if there is any damage then you have not got that deniability.
‘Are we ready for conflict? Yes we are. I think what we set out yesterday demonstrates that. This was a month of operations involving 500 personnel, our pilots flew more than 450 hours, our frigates sailed 450 nautical miles and we combined with our allies, particularly Norway to call out Putin’s secret submarine operations.
‘I hope that is a reassurance to the public that we are not taking our eyes off Putin, or off the primary threat and that we have an Armed Forces displaying its capability to deter, track and to respond.’
Royal Navy vessels HMS St Albans and HMS Somerset track the Russian vessel RFN Severomorsk on a separate operation as Defence Secretary John Healey admits UK was forced to respond to a pair of Russian spy submarines and an attack submarine invading the English Channel
But the Defence Secretary failed to provide a deadline for when the government will publish the long delayed Defence Investment Plan, a blueprint for spending on the military over the next ten years.
The Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is personally involved in efforts to complete the DIP but Healey was unable or unwilling to say when that will be.
The DIP was supposed to be published last year following the release of the Strategic Defence Review.
The Mail has exposed shortages in defence provisions as part of the its agenda setting Don’t Leave Britain Defenceless campaign.
Not for the first time Healey blamed the hollowing out of the UK’s armed forces by previous governments for the state of the services today.
He told the LDC he was dealing with issues that festered for 14 years of Conservative and Conservative-led coalition government. He told the audience when Labour left office in 2010 defence spending was higher than during the years of Tory administrations, that the army was bigger and that there were more ships.
He added: ‘We will not fix these problems overnight but we are making a start. Under Labour there has been the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War and I hope that fives people the confidence and the certainty to make long term decisions.’
