Former Nato chief blasts Gov't over defence funding

THE UK is underprepared for war due to the “ever-expanding welfare budget” and “corrosive complacency” from Sir Keir Starmer’s government, former Nato chief Lord George Robertson has warned.

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The former Labour defence secretary, who led the Government's Strategic Defence Review (SDW), accused ministers of being unwilling to make the necessary investment.

He will use a lecture on Tuesday evening to say the Iran war must be a “rude wake-up call” to ministers to act.

In the speech, he will say: “We are underprepared. We are under-insured. We are under attack. We are not safe... Britain’s national security and safety is in peril.”

The 10-year defence investment plan which was meant to be published in autumn last year to deliver the SDR’s plans has still not been produced.