Wishful thinking has left us unprepared for dangerous world, says Lord Robertson

A FORMER secretary-general of NATO has warned that Britons are “not safe” in a “difficult world”.

- By Rhiannon James

Lord Robertson, who co-wrote this year’s Strategic Defence Review, said the UK lacks the ammunition, training, people, logistics and medical capacity for war.

He told the House of Lords: “Bearing in mind the difficult world that we live in and have to survive in, this is what I firmly believe: we are underinsured, we are underprepared, we are not safe.

“This country and its people are not safe. The British people are faced with a world in turmoil, with great-power competitions spilling over now into conflict, with constant grey zone attacks on our mainland, and with Russia - often with the cooperation of Iran, China and North Korea - challenging the existing world order.

“We simply, in this country, are not safe.”