'Embarrassing': MP slams Royal Navy's 'inability to deploy a single ship swiftly' amid Iran war ceasefire
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The state of the Royal Navy has diminished the UK’s diplomatic position on a global stage, the chair of the defence select committee has said.
Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, Labour MP for Slough, said the UK’s “inability to deploy a single ship swiftly” after the outbreak of war in the Middle East had left many “embarrassed”. It took six days to deploy HMS Dragon from Portsmouth to the eastern Mediterranean, after a kamikaze drone struck RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus.
Despite the sheer amount of work it took to ready the Type 45 destroyer - previously set for maintenance ahead of becoming the flagship for Nato’s Standing Maritime Group One - the US-Israeli bombardment on Iran and retaliatory attacks had developed significantly. She was forced into port with a technical issue relating to her water supply systems.
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Foreign navies had already deployed multiple ships to the eastern Mediterranean, with officials in Cyprus upset at Britain’s slow response. Mr Dheshi has lamented the delays to the Defence Investment Plan, which sets out funding for major military reforms outlined in the Strategic Defence Review. Originally due to be published last autumn, it has lapsed several months and is having a major financial impact on the sector.
“The Defence Committee has repeatedly raised concerns around the UK’s lack of mass and capabilities, and the urgent need for investment in UK defence,” Mr Dhesi added. “While the strategic defence review set out the long-term strategic vision for our military, the defence investment plan was meant to provide the details, and its publication has been delayed several months. The lack of a public plan now runs the risk of undermining the UK’s ability to play a full and leading role in Nato.”
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused prime minister Sir Keir Starmer of being “all mouth, no trousers when it comes to defence”, as she called for the plan to be published when parliament returns from recess next week.
“Keir Starmer talks about wanting to spend three per cent of GDP on defence. Last year his government published a Strategic Defence Review explaining why we need it,” she said. “But here we are nine months later, and we still haven’t seen the accompanying defence investment plan. It was promised last autumn, it’s now April. This is a national scandal.”
Defence secretary John Healey last month denied that the Treasury was holding up the publication of the plan, and rejected suggestions there had been requests to scale it back. The Tories have said they would reinstate the two-child benefit cap to better fund defence.
Real-terms defence spending fluctuated under the successive Conservative governments between 2010 and 2024, falling by 22 per cent by 2016/17, after which it steadily rose and has recently returned to 2010 levels. The size of the Royal Navy fleet diminished significantly in that time, with delayed calls to build ships leading to a capability gap. Sir Keir’s Labour government has pledged to spend 2.6 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) on core defence by 2027, rising to three per cent in the next parliament.
Minister for defence industry and readiness, Luke Pollard, accused the Tories of having “hollowed out” the armed forces and “leaving our brave servicemen and women exposed”. “If Badenoch was prime minister, Britain would be at war in Iran without a plan – she is completely out of her depth,” he said.
“Badenoch should start with an apology for the mess they left behind, instead of taking pot shots. Pushing kids into poverty isn’t how we make our defence stronger. Prime minister Keir Starmer is delivering the biggest sustained uplift in defence spending since the end of the Cold War, with every pound of our defence uplift delivering for British workers, British businesses and Britain’s national security.”