A cross-party report warns Britain must improve war readiness, with MPs and a former NATO adviser questioning whether traditional US security guarantees remain reliable under President Trump
The UK can no longer rely on the US for protection and must brace itself for potential conflict, MPs and a former senior NATO adviser have cautioned. Experts have stated the America First doctrine of President Donald Trump has stripped away the security assurances that the UK has enjoyed for decades.
The long-held belief the US would be obligated to respond to a Russian assault on a NATO ally under Article 5 is now “no longer valid”, marking the end of the post-Second World War settlement.
A report by Civitas stated: “Today’s US is not only no longer acting within the framework and constraints of its traditional alliances, it is already acting in a manner which can be perceived as being contrary to the interests of some of its allies.” It added: “President Trump, it seems is even looking towards Russia as a potential business partner; the Kremlin and the White House appear to be quietly normalising commercial and diplomatic relations.”
The report, titled Understanding the UK’s Transition to Warfighting Readiness, was authored by MPs Bernard Jenkins (Conservative), Derek Twigg (Labour) and the former senior NATO adviser Chris Donnelly, reports the Express.
They also lambasted the UK’s “sclerotic” processes, which have remained stagnant during 70 years of peace and prosperity. In his introduction to the report, Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, a former NATO secretary-general and the chair of Labour’s recent defence review, warned: “The UK is under-prepared and under attack.
“New forms of governance and the development of a war-capable political process are well overdue,” the report further claims. The document urges the Government to pump more resources into cutting-edge technologies, enabling frontline personnel to execute more precise operations, bolster cyber security measures, or forge fresh alliances, including ties with India.
The authors argue that the latest strategic defence review failed to recognise that “in many respects we are on the potential cusp of war and that kinetic war may come to us when we least expect it, sooner rather than later”.
Britain’s Army, dwindling to approximately 70,000 regular soldiers, has also sparked alarm among allies, who consider this figure woefully inadequate.
The document additionally examines how education and civil society can help ready the nation, with the writers demanding a comprehensive societal mobilisation alongside flexible leadership structures. National service, or the draft, involves the compulsory recruitment of citizens into military duty as mandated by law.
It typically applies to young males aged 18 for a designated timeframe, though nations such as Norway, Sweden and Denmark also include women. Currently, the UK has no national service or compulsory military duty requirements.
Britain’s armed forces operate as a professional voluntary organisation. Historically, the UK has implemented military conscription during two distinct eras in recent history – initially from 1916 to 1920 and then again from 1939 to 1960.
The final conscripted servicemen completed their duties in 1963. Ten of Europe’s NATO states currently enforce conscription: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, Turkey and, most recently, Croatia.
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