Military must modernise to ‘earn’ post-war prosperity once again, says minister

Britain’s military needs to modernise as the country increases defence spending to 2.5% of GDP, the armed forces minister has said (Ben Birchall/PA) - (PA Archive)

Europe must once again “earn” the peace and prosperity it has enjoyed since 1945, the armed forces minister has said as he called for the modernisation of UK defence.

Warning that UK defence policy remained “fundamentally shaped” by the demands of the post-Cold War era, Luke Pollard told a conference at Chatham House that raising defence spending to 2.5% of GDP was “just the starting gun” in a race to modernisation.