U.K.’s top general says military training may ease over funding lapse

Britain’s most senior military officer told lawmakers that critical operations and exercises may need to be scaled back if Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government doesn’t provide the armed forces with additional funding.

On Tuesday, Air Chief Marshal Richard Knighton, chief of the Defense Staff, said that greater defense spending is needed to “reverse the hollowness” of the British armed forces.

“The quicker we can improve readiness, the faster we can accelerate the modernization of the armed forces,” he told members of the House of Lords’ International Relations and Defense Committee.

Mr. Knighton’s testimony came a week after the abrupt resignation of former Defense Secretary John Healey, who criticized the government’s plan to increase defense spending to 2.68% of GDP rather than 3% by 2030.

Mr. Knighton said he was most concerned about the shrinking pool of cash needed to cover the British military’s day-to-day operational priorities, like military exercises and training.

“These are the things that make sure the men and women of our armed forces are as ready as they can be with the equipment that they have got today,” he said.

He said Britain is still reeling from the high inflation rates that emerged during the COVID pandemic.

“Fuel costs are 88% higher than they were at this time last year for aviation fuel, for example,” Mr. Knighton told the House of Lords. “All that puts pressure on us. The levers that we have to pull to reduce that expenditure are principally around our activities, which means exercises, training and operations.”

He called for a clear track to determine how the U.K. will achieve a defense spending level of 3.5% of GDP by 2035.

“NATO expects us to spend 3.5% of GDP on hard defense, and that’s the commitment that the prime minister has made,” Mr. Knighton said.

Last week, Mr. Starmer selected former British army officer Dan Jarvis to replace Mr. Healey as defense secretary. Following his resignation, Mr. Healey returned to Parliament as a member of the House of Commons.