The government undermines our defence

Not content with giving our sovereignty away to the EU in the reset and our money away to many foreign governments, EU students and migrants, the government is busily undermining our defences.

They want to give away the freehold of our important base at Diego Garcia to a non nuclear state friendly with China. This naval base is crucial to defending trade routes in the Middle East and Indian ocean.

They failed to defend our base in Cyprus leading to demands from Cyprus and the EU that we reconsider that base, crucial to our interests in the eastern Mediterranean and Middle East.

They have negotiated a Treaty with the EU giving them powers over the Gibraltar  border and airport, a crucial part of our air and naval base there.

They have watched as Ukraine has shown the importance of drones to modern warfare without putting in UK capacity to build and use drones in our own armed forces.

They have seen the growing potency of fast ballistic missiles in the Middle East without strengthening our home  defences against these. Why is there no plan and  no urgency to defend these islands against drone and missile attack?

When need arose to provide air defence cover for shipping  and bases in the Middle East they had no naval vessel available to do the job. Most of our frigates and destroyers were undergoing slow maintenance at the same time with no thought for the  need to have any of  our 13 frigates and destroyers available to defend us. Our two carriers also stayed at home. Why? What ‘s the point of a navy with plenty of admirals and no ships at sea?

Two recent wars show the need to rearm . Our Nato  commitments require us to rearm. Where is the defence plan? Where is the money? Where above all is the sovereign will even to defend our islands?

 

 

 

 

5 Comments

  1. Kathy
    March 26, 2026

    Where has been the genuine opposition from the Opposition?

    Reply
  2. Mark B
    March 26, 2026

    Good morning.

    If you really want to know in what parlous state our defence and navy is in, go and look at what is happening to our submarine fleet. We are supposed to have four Trident submarines with the ability to rotate them over a reasonable period. This is not happening.

    A nation that cannot even fill its pot holes is a nation that cannot pay for a defence force.

    Reply
  3. Wanderer
    March 26, 2026

    “Cyprus and the EU that we reconsider that base, crucial to our interests in the eastern Mediterranean and Middle East.”

    This is what we should be reconsidering: we are a small island nation off the Atlantic coast of Europe. What “interests” do we have in the Med and Middle East? Are military bases, useable by America, helpful to those interests? China seems to do pretty well securing trade routes without having a string of military bases around the world, and they are a massive hegemon and the world’s biggest trader. What is a global dwarf like today’s Britain doing with bases and “interests” in far flung places.

    By all means make the homeland a fortress. But fix the potholes and NHS before eyeing up and tying us up in foreign parts.

    Reply
  4. Rod Evans
    March 26, 2026

    No matter how you look at the Labour government, whether you are a socialist or a realist Labour are not doing the UK any favours in any area they focus on.
    Defence is simply another example where the core objective of Labour policy is to destroy our essential sovereign support institutions and leave the nation weak.
    Industrial policy is destroying manufacturing and jobs under Net Zero.
    Farming and rural affairs are causing chaos and destroying our most basic survival industry.
    Fish in our own waters has been given to the continental EU at no advantage to the UK.
    Energy is being made unstable, expensive and un-accessible with closure of the North Sea.
    Borders have been abandoned allowing open access to all.
    Policing is none existent in many areas allowing open criminality to roam at will.
    The PM treats Parliament with contempt and the speaker allows it?
    Can anyone name a single feature of this Labour administration that is positive for Britain.
    Even our diplomatic service has been traduced by sleaze and scandal, plus open hostility towards our most important key security ally.
    It is not good enough.

    Reply
  5. Geoffrey Berg
    March 26, 2026

    The biggest problem is our politicians are simply not up to their job. For instance Starmer spent yesterday’s questions time and again saying the answer to our energy price crisis is for the parties in the Iran War to de-escalate on the very day when Trump made absolutely clear to anybody with any brains that he has decided to escalate the conflict very soon. Why else would he be publishing his harsh conditions for peace? It must be for show to justify his imminent escalation. If he was seriously negotiating Donald Trump wouldn’t be doing so in public and specifying harsh terms for people, especially his Opposition in America shortly before mid-term elections to see that he will withdraw without achieving anything like them. Unlike Teresa May he knows how to negotiate, unlike Sunak he knows not to commit himself publicly to the unachievable and unlike Starmer he knows what he is doing. Nobody in Parliament and indeed no journalist afterwards picked up on nor presumably spotted that Starmer failed to read the obvious and absurdly asked for the opposite of what is soon going to happen, that is Trump has decided ‘to unleash hell’ upon Iran within days. There is no substitute for the brains our political class lacks.

    Reply

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