'The chickens are coming home to roost': Ukraine has exposed British army's 'deficiencies', ex-army chief warns

30 January 2023, 19:19 | Updated: 30 January 2023, 19:25

By Kieran Kelly

@kellyjourno

The war in Ukraine has exposed the British army's deficiencies after decades of underfunding, the former head of the army has warned.

Speaking on LBC's Tonight with Andrew Marr, ex-army chief Lord Richard Dannatt said claims made by an American general that the UK is no longer a top-tier fighting force are "not wide of the mark".

It follows an admission by Defence Secretary Ben Wallace that the government has "hollowed out and underfunded" the army.

Speaking to Andrew on Monday, Lord Dannatt said: "The British army has been disinvested in - or underfunded - for a couple of decades now, and it's coming home to roost".

Lord Dannatt also said that the number of soldiers serving in the army needs to increase, and warned that there also problems with outdated equipment that need to be resolved.

"Our weakness is our equipment and the capabilities that we have available to us," he said.

"A land war in Europe has absolutely shone a light on our deficiencies and among the few things that we have that are relatively modern still - the Challenger 2 (tank) being one of them - quite rightly, we are throwing them into the fight that is the hot war today.

"This reduces further our current capability."

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Today, Mr Wallace was challenged in the House of Commons by his Labour counterpart John Healey after comments by the US general.

Mr Healey said: "When Labour left government in 2010, the British Army stood at over 100,000 full-time troops and we were spending 2.5% of GDP on defence.

"The serious hollowing-out has happened since. Who does he think has been in charge over the last 13 years?"

Mr Wallace responded: "You only have to listen to the veterans on this side to understand their experience under a Labour government.

He added: "If (Mr Healey) wants to be the next secretary of defence, he should come here and get off his chest the shortcomings that his former government did.

"I'm happy to say that we have hollowed out and underfunded. Will he do the same? Or will he hide behind petty party politics?"

Lord Dannatt also warned that the government's current commitment of putting 2% of GDP towards defence spending was not good enough.

He told Andrew: "Myself and many others in the House of Lords are on the record to say 2% is not enough and we have got to increase it by more if we want to protect this country."

Mr Wallace was briefed by a senior US general, who described the British army as "no longer" being considered one of the world's premier fighting forces, according to Sky News.

Meanwhile one UK defence source said: "Bottom line... it's an entire service unable to protect the UK and our allies for a decade."

It's reported that Rishi Sunak has the potential to be labelled a 'failing' "wartime prime minister" if he doesn't increase investment in the nations' armed forces.

"We have a wartime prime minister and a wartime chancellor," one source said.

"History will look back at the choices they make in the coming weeks as fundamental to whether this government genuinely believes that its primary duty is the defence of the realm or whether that is just a slogan to be given lip service."

It follows the news Ukrainian soldiers have arrived in the UK for Challenger 2 tank training, following the pledge to send vehicles to the war torn country.

It also coincides with Germany's announcement to send Leopard tanks to the region, at a time when European powers including France and Germany look set to boost defence spending significantly in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.