The Prime Minister has announced the government will strengthen the “UK’s nuclear posture in a generation” as Britain is facing “menace” from hostile countries such as Russia, Iran, China and North Korea.
The Defence Secretary John Healey has revealed that the UK over the past year has had 90,000 cyber attacks from Russia and other hostile states and said he was “taken aback” by the scale.
He told GB News, “We are under constant attack. I came in as Defence Secretary less than a year ago and I have been quite taken aback, I have to say, to find that over the last year, we’ve had 90,000 direct attacks on different parts of defence that we can link to hostile states, including Russia.
He added, “We’ve seen increasing Russian activity around our underwater sea cables and it’s really telling us that in this world of increasing uncertainty, we have to take the defence of our homeland more seriously.”
The National Security Strategy report published on Tuesday warns the UK must “actively prepare” for war on Britain and the Security Service MI5 has warned a terror attack is “likely.”
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “Russian aggression menaces our continent. Strategic competition is intensifying. Extremist ideologies are on the rise. Technology is transforming the nature of both war and domestic security. Hostile state activity takes place on British soil.”
As a result the UK will reintroduce the RAF into a nuclear role and Britain will but around a dozen new F35A fighter jets which will be the first time since the Cold War.
The government has decided to join NATO’s dual capable aircraft nuclear mission and the new F35A stealth fighter jets will also be able to carry nuclear weapons.
Starmer said that the UK can “no longer take peace for granted as we now live in an “era of radical uncertainty.”
The Prime Minister added, “Supporting 100 businesses across the country and more than 20,000 jobs, these F35 dual-capable aircraft will herald a new era for our world-leading Royal Air Force and deter hostile threats that threaten the UK and our allies.
“The UK’s commitment to Nato is unquestionable, as is the alliance’s contribution to keeping the UK safe and secure, but we must all step up to protect the Euro-Atlantic area for generations to come.”
The new stealth fighter jets will be based at RAF Marham, Norfolk, however there are questions being asked as to how the government will be able to buy the warplanes as they cost around £60 million each.
The director of the influential Institute of Fiscal Studies, Paul Johnson warned to pay for the defence budget means tax increases, “because in the end there’s nowhere else it can come from.”
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