The UK faces its ‘greatest risk’ of war in a lifetime, with the Kremlin posing the largest threat to national security, Wes Streeting has said.
The defence secretary used threats from Russia and Putin to justify what he called ‘the biggest increase in defence spending’ since the end of the Cold War.
Ahead of the Labour conference which begins in Liverpool today, Streeting warned the Russian president has ‘imperialist ambitions’ and is ‘constantly testing’ both the defences of Britain and Nato.
Speaking to The Sun on Sunday, he said: ‘Without a shadow of a doubt, the biggest threat facing Britain is Russia and President Putin.
‘We’ve got war in our continent. We’ve got a Russian president who has imperialist ambitions, who is constantly testing Britain’s defences, Nato defences and testing the strength of our alliances.
‘And so, the sobering reality is that we face a greater risk of war than we’ve done at any point in my lifetime.’
He added he remained confident the country has what it needs to remain safe, but the same would not be if defence investment was kept the same for the next five years.
‘Strength builds deterrence, and deterrence makes it far less likely that we will end up in a place we don’t want to be – which is at war with Russia or, indeed, anyone else,’ he said.
The defence secretary urged people to keep a stockpile of essentials, such as bottled water and cash, warning them to be ‘alert’ but not ‘alarmed’.
He explained that while the start of the war saw Britain train Ukrainian forces following Russia’s full scale invasion, Ukraine’s military is now sharing its experience with allies in areas such as drone warfare.
Mr Streeting said he was acutely aware that money spent on defence could have gone into other areas such as schools, hospitals and ‘people’s pockets’.
But he added: ‘I feel that need to constantly make the case to the public that we’re spending their money wisely and that investing in our defence now is a far better price to pay than the price of failure should war break out.’
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