Government must 'move at pace' to be war-ready in 1,000 days, peers warn

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Peers have demanded a ‘significant shift in the culture’ at the Ministry of Defence to focus on ‘delivering capability at speed’

Andy Burnham’s Government must go “further and faster” to prepare Britain for the possibility of war within 1,000 days, a group of peers has warned.

The Lords Industry and Regulators Committee warned that industry would be unable to “move quickly enough” to protect the UK unless ministers overhaul their “buyer-seller” relationship with companies and encourage regulators to scrap “overly prescriptive” rules.

In a report published on Wednesday, the committee also called for investors to be given “more certainty” over the timing and nature of contracts to unlock funding.

Peers demanded a “significant shift in the culture” at the Ministry of Defence, accusing it of having “too often focused on the comfort blanket of following process rather than delivering capability at speed.”

They urged the department to become “more comfortable” with taking risks when procuring military capabilities and to look beyond simply securing the lowest cost when assessing value for money.

“When procuring innovative capabilities, the Government should consider funding a number of companies working on the same problem to ensure greater industrial resilience and capacity,” the report said.

“Much of the bureaucracy and process in defence procurement was intended to reduce the risk of wasting public money. This has slowed down procurement without obviously reducing waste.

Peers also called on the Prime Minister to reinforce promises from Defence Secretary Wes Streeting to provide cover for officials to take greater risks, with a “strategic statement on defence to ensure industry is able to provide UK defence readiness”.

“If the Government continues its arm’s-length, buyer-seller relationship with industry delivering against detailed and prescriptive technical specifications, industry will not be able to move quickly enough to exploit fast-developing technology or to protect the UK in the event of war,” the report said.

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