A New Bletchley Network report, based on ideas from a panel of experts, offered advice to the next prime minister and defense secretary. It warned that the force’s size may already be below “national critical mass” and that a “hollowing out” of the regular army and reserves over time needed to be reversed.
Former cabinet secretary and national security adviser Lord Mark Sedwill, former news chief and Labour defense secretary Lord George Robertson, and former head of state General Lord David Richards were among those who participated in the discussion.
The action is being taken in response to mounting worries that Rishi Sunak’s administration failed to raise defense funding in the Spring Budget, even though Defense Secretary Grant Shapps warned that the UK was living in a “pre-war world” and that Russia was still actively waging war in Ukraine.
