Britain’s Armed Forces are ‘not able to combat’ says Defence Secretary John Healey as he suggests army has ‘far deeper issues than we thought’ after years of cuts

Britain’s Armed Forces are ‘not ready to fight’, the Defence Secretary has said in a bleak assessment of the state of the British military. 

John Healey said that the problems facing the Army, Navy and Air Force were ‘far worse with far deeper problems than we thought’ before Labour took power in the summer.

The Armed Forces, specially the British Army and Royal Navy, have been hammered by manpower crises in recent years that have led to questions over how effective they are as fighting forces. 

The army is expected to have fewer than 70,000 trained soldiers next year, while naval vessels have been tied up alongside due to a lack of sailors to man them.

Speaking to Politico’s Power Play podcast after signing a defence agreement with Germany, Mr Healey said: ‘The UK, in keeping with many other nations, has essentially become very skilled and ready to conduct military operations. 

‘What we’ve not been ready to do is to fight. Unless we are ready to fight we are not in shape to deter.’ 

It echoes a report by an influential committee of MPs who warned in February that Britain’s overstretched Armed Forces may be unable to fight an all-out war, with chronic shortages of troops and equipment being covered up in a ‘veil of secrecy’.

John Healey said that the problems facing the Army, Navy and Air Force were ‘far worse with far deeper problems than we thought’ before Labour took power in the summer.

Speaking to Politico’s Power Play podcast after signing a defence agreement with Germany, Mr Healey said: ‘The UK, in keeping with many other nations, has essentially become very skilled and ready to conduct military operations. What we’ve not been ready to do is to fight.’

And earlier this year an outgoing Army chief said the public would have to be called up to fight if Britain goes to war because the regular Forces are too small.

In recent years, the Army has shed soldiers at an unprecedented rate, and by default rather than design. In the aftermath of the Cold War, the gradual reduction in numbers was managed. When, in 2015, the target size of the Army was set at 82,000 this was expected to be relatively easy to maintain, through recruitment and retention. 

However, this target was never met and by January 2021 the strength of the Army was just 76,300 trained troops.

Two months later, the Ministry of Defence announced, to widespread dismay, that the Army would be scaled back to 72,500 by 2025 as a cost-saving measure.

Despite the requirement for fewer soldiers, the Army has repeatedly missed recruitment targets – while increasing numbers of trained troops cut short their military careers over issues such as low pay and poor housing.

In August this year, the new government announced a 6 per cent pay-rise for troops, their biggest salary hike for two decades.

Earlier this week it was revealed Luftwaffe pilots are to fly sorties over Britain for the first time since World War Two as part of a new defence deal.

Under the agreement, German submarine-hunting planes will operate from RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland and arms giant Rheinmetall is set to open a factory producing artillery gun barrels using British steel.

The army is expected to have fewer than 70,000 trained soldiers next year, while naval vessels have been tied up alongside due to a lack of sailors to man them.

The Germans will be using P-8A Poseidon aircraft for their patrols out of Scotland

Defence AI firm Helsing will also make a £350 million investment in the UK.

The UK-Germany Trinity House Agreement is a sign of the Government’s attempts to forge closer relations with European allies, particularly on defence and security measures.

The agreement is the latest sign of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s drive to ‘reset’ relations with the European Union’s key players, with a wider UK-Germany treaty set to be signed next year.

The defence agreement will see the Nato allies working together on developing long-range, strike weapons that can travel further than the UK’s existing Storm Shadow missiles.

And the UK and Germany will also collaborate on developing new land-based and aerial drones.

Under the agreement, the Ministry of Defence said German P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft will ‘periodically’ operate out of Lossiemouth in Moray, potentially armed with UK-supplied torpedoes, helping to secure the North Atlantic.

In response to the potential threat from Russian activity at sea, the allies will also work together to protect underwater cables.

Other measures will see co-operation to strengthen Nato’s eastern flank and extra support for Ukraine, including work on equipping German Sea King helicopters with modern missile systems for use by Kyiv’s forces.