MPs to launch national ad campaign to highlight extent UK military is unprepared for war - and call for increased spending

A cross-party group of MPs is set to launch a national advertising campaign that will highlight their view that the UK's military is underfunded - amid calls for increased defence spending.

The group of predominantly veterans believe the British public are unaware how "stripped bare" the country's military is, and of the need to rearm at speed.

Those behind the plans are intending for a professionally-run public facing campaign, which would feature on social media, and also use other methods to convey messaging to people offline.

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It comes as both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats demand ministers commit to spending 3% of GDP on defence by 2029. The government's current target means that figure will only be hit at some point in the next parliament, between 2030 and 2035.

On Tuesday, Sky News exclusively revealed that UK military chiefs are being asked to find £3.5bn in savings, while still trying to strengthen the armed force against increasing global threats.

The plan for the UK-wide ad campaign is being led by former army captain-turned-Liberal Democrat MP Mike Martin, who has founded a new body, the All-Parliamentary Party Group on Rearmament.

It is also being backed by MPs including Labour's Tim Roca and Conservative MP Lincoln Jopp, who received the Military Cross for bravery while serving as a colonel in the army.

Field Marshal the Lord Richards of Herstmonceux, a crossbench peer who previously served as chief of the defence staff, is also leading the campaign.

It comes as new polling by YouGov on Wednesday revealed that 69% of Britons say the UK is poorly prepared for a major conflict. But less than a third say they would be prepared to spend less on public services in order to boost the armed forces.

Mr Martin told Sky News: "We've got a situation where the public understand the threat that we face, but probably don't understand quite how stripped bare our defences are.

"The public needs to understand the large gap between the threat and our military capability - only then will we be able to create the political consensus necessary to rearm our country."

The plan is for the project to begin in the summer, and it will encourage former senior members of the military "to be more honest about the threats we're facing", a source close to the campaign said.

It will also highlight potential pitfalls the military could face in the future, such as the UK's lack of any ground-based ballistic missile air defence or how long it might take to deploy troops to a NATO country, such as Estonia, if it was attacked by Russia.

It comes after the Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff struggled to tell the Commons Defence Select Committee in March whether Britain would be capable of deploying a battle group - roughly 1,000 soldiers - to Europe.

Mr Jopp, who is a member of the committee and served in Afghanistan, Northern Ireland and both Gulf Wars, said: "As a nation, we are not safe. We all need to wake up to that and do something about it.

"We need to re-arm. We need to prepare for the fight we don't want to have. Only that way leads to peace."

One person involved with the planning said that explaining the state of the military directly to the public is necessary because "defence is the only narrative that the government controls".

They pointed to ministers not publishing security threats to the UK or internal reports on the state of the military - while they suggested the narrative around the NHS or the cost living is largely out of the government's control.

But they hope the Iran war, and the UK's deployment of HMS Dragon to the Mediterranean, will be a "turning point".

The Royal Navy destroyer arrived in the region three weeks after RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus was hit by a drone - though it has since had to dock due to a "minor technical issue".

Mr Roca, who is a backbench Labour MP, is keen to highlight that the government "has moved in the right direction by increasing defence spending", but believes "we need to go further and faster".

He told Sky News: "The world is a very dangerous place right now, and we need to be ready. This is about bringing people together across parties to make sure the UK has the strength and resilience it needs for what's ahead."

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Education about the state of the military will also be targeted specifically at MPs, in a separate, internal part of the campaign.

The group believe the relatively youthful 2024 Commons intake means some backbenchers have little experience of being in a country preparing for war.

Part of the project will see parliamentary events held with experts to boost support for increased defence spending amongst Labour MPs, who will be needed to vote in favour of any additional funding.

Those behind it insist the campaign is "not supposed to be combative, it's supposed to be helpful" and believe a cross-party effort will help depoliticise rearmament. But they added that they expect a blowback from the Greens and others on the left.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence said: "We are delivering on the Strategic Defence Review to meet the threats we face, adopting a whole-of-society approach to increase national warfighting readiness and build national resilience.

"It is backed by the biggest sustained investment in our armed forces since the Cold War, with over £270bn being invested across this parliament."

They added they are finalising the Defence Investment Plan - originally due last autumn - and that this will be "putting the best kit and technology into the hands of our forces".

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