Lord George Robertson’s comments about “corrosive complacency” on defence will sting the government. He was the former defence secretary handpicked by Labour to carry out its Strategic Defence Review (SDR). That highlighted serious gaps in the UK’s armed forces – which ministers said would be addressed in its much-delayed defence investment plan. Ministers had promised to publish that 10-year plan before Christmas, but recent reports suggest it is still being argued over within government. The delays come alongside reports of the Ministry of Defence facing a £28bn funding shortfall over the next four years. Speaking last month, General Sir Richard Barrons, another one of the authors of the SDR, said the British Army could no longer do “anything substantial”, and was so depleted it could only “seize a small market town on a good day”. Last year, a House of Commons report noted that the UK is “considered by many” to be increasingly vulnerable to long-range ballistic missiles. Troop headcount is also down and some ageing equipment is in a poor state. Related posts: What Nigeria’s Rising Wave of Kidnappings and Insecurity Says About the State of the Nation Fear, Anger and Rain: Oyo Residents Took Their Fight to the Government House Ojude Oba 2026, Cultural Grandeur and the National Outcry That Followed Post navigation What Nigeria’s Rising Wave of Kidnappings and Insecurity Says About the State of the Nation
