Tory MPS urge Johnson to increase defence budget to build up arms ‘to Cold War levels’

BORIS JOHNSON has been told to step up Britain’s weapons stockpiles to “at least the scale of Cold War arsenals” as he faces further pressure to increase defence spending.

A report by the 1922 defence committee said that military cuts should be “halted immediately” and that defence spending should rise in real terms.

The committee was one of several set up by the Prime Minister in February as part of an attempt to appease the Tory back benches in the wake of partygate.

The report will be presented to the Prime Minister personally, with John Baron, the committee’s chairman warning that he “would be well-advised to listen to his backbenchers”.

It argued that the Government’s integrated review, published last year to demonstrate the UK’S place in global politics over the next decade, is already outdated due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Plans to cut troop numbers by 10,000 to 72,500 by 2025, making the UK Armed Forces the smallest in 200 years, were “predicated on the assumption of peace” and must be “halted immediately”, the report said.

It also recommended that “deep stockpiles of advanced weapons and ammunition, at least at the scale of the Cold War arsenals” should be built up “as Ukraine shows, modern warfare can go through such stockpiles much faster than anticipated”.

Earlier this month it was revealed that the Prime Minister had asked Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, to withdraw a letter which called for increased spending on the Armed Forces due to the Ukraine conflict.

Mr Wallace’s calls were echoed by Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, who said that the UK’S 2 per cent target for defence spending required by Nato should be “a floor, not a ceiling”.

Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, declined to increase Britain’s defence budget in his Spring Statement, despite pressure from cabinet colleagues.

The Chancellor was warned in a letter from Mr Wallace that Britain risked missing its Nato spending target by 2025 and that the cost of arming Ukraine and inflation meant there was a real-terms cut in funding.

Mr Johnson has previously said that the views of MPS on the 1922 policy committees would be taken “seriously” by the Cabinet.

John Redwood, a former head of the Downing Street Policy Unit who has been referred to as “a one man think tank” has been heading up the work of coordinating the committees.

He recently warned that the Government could be “dashed from office” if the economy were to go into recession.

Mr Baron, a former Army captain, told The Times: “We are looking forward to discussing the report with the secretary of state for defence and presenting it to the No10 policy unit. I will also be raising it with the Prime Minister directly – he would be well-advised to listen to his backbenchers.”

‘Plans to cut troop numbers were predicated on the assumption of peace and must be halted immediately’