War: Would Britain Be Ready?

Watch War: Would Britain Be Ready? Tonight, on ITV1 at 8:30pm

On Tuesday, Keir Starmer confirmed government plans to sharply increase defence spending, in what he said was the biggest increase in defence spending, since the end of The Cold War. The announcement came just days after he said British troops may be sent to Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping force. As Donald Trump plans negotiations with Vladimir Putin, Ukraine’s President Zelensky has called for an army of Europe to be assembled. In this volatile international climate, how well prepared are our armed forces for any future conflict?

In this week’s episode of the Tonight programme, former British soldier Adnan Sarwar investigates the UK's defence strategy; asking whether current levels of equipment and manpower are adequate, and whether the right level of funding is in place to meet the challenges of the future.

 But what could a future war look like? Adnan meets ex-British soldier Stephen who hadn’t served for nine years until he made the decision in 2022 to travel to Ukraine to fight. Stephen recounts how fighting on the frontline has changed from his time in Afghanistan, including a first-hand encounter with drone warfare. 

Whilst the development of AI and drone warfare is expected to play an increasingly important role in conflicts of the future, military figures around the UK are sounding the alarm that Britain is dangerously under-defended right now. 

Ministry of Defence figures show that the size of the British army is at its smallest since the Napoleonic era, and although the UK has been spending more on defence in recent years, it has had one of the slowest rates of spending increases out of all Nato countries. The UK now faces stark choices about its defence, but whether government plans will meet the increasing challenges Britain now faces remains to be seen.

Watch War: Would Britain Be Ready? Tonight, on ITV1 at 8:30pm