Former defence ministers ‘wrong’ to warn UK unprepared for war, Oliver Dowden claims

London: The Deputy Prime Minister has rejected suggestions from former defence ministers that the UK is unprepared for war.

Following an alert that Britain would struggle to hold off Russia, departing armed forces minister James Heappey said Britain is “a long way behind” where it should be.

Asked about the warnings, Deputy PM Mr Dowden said: “I think they are wrong.”

However, he told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg that he agreed the UK is facing “rising threats” from across the globe.

But he added: “We are taking action across the board. We have set up a national cybersecurity centre in respect of cyber. I now take dozens of decisions daily about investment to protect our economic security.

“This world is going to get more dangerous as time goes on. We see a combination of hostile states, not least Russia, Iran, North Korea and China.

“We need to be taking action across those areas. Of course there is always more to do, but I believe we are making good progress against rising threats.”

Defence secretary Grant Shapps has previously said Britain is in a pre-war age as tensions mount in Ukraine and his predecessor Ben Wallace has called for a plan of action.

Mr Heappey gave his thoughts to the Sunday Telegraph after announcing that he would be standing down at the next election alongside Harlow MP Robert Halfon.

“War is a whole nation endeavour and, to be frank, in the UK we’re a very long way behind,” Mr Heappey said.

“The post-Cold War peace dividend meant that our strategic resilience could slip down the list of government priorities.

“Defence meant doing things in remote places like Afghanistan or Iraq rather than in Western Europe and the North Atlantic.

“As a result, the rest of the Government didn’t need to worry about defence – it was just left to the MoD.”

Mr Wallace told the Telegraph: “The growing instability and insecurity directed at Britain and her allies means that the whole of society needs to make a step change towards recognising that our core duty is to think about our defence and our resilience.

“It’s how we used to think during the Cold War, and everyone from local government to the MoD played their part.”

While Mr Wallace claimed the MoD had made such a change, he added “there are too many people in Government and society relying on just hoping everything will go away”.