Defence of the realm? We're too busy cosying up to the EU's defence unification plans, blasts Frederick Chedham

Our defence industry, once an arsenal of strength, stands fractured, while our armed forces are treated like window displays in times of crisis. An exquisite shop window when the world requires us to have an Amazon warehouse.

Most of the media, with its shallow understanding and armchair pundits, peddles stories of American missile failures and gender disparities in recruitment, distracting us from the real issues corroding our military from within. It's amateur hour when well-meaning but politicians, ignorant of defence matters, fumble through parliamentary sessions, asking the wrong questions to slippery officials, who easily evade them with equally misguided answers.

Where are the tough questions about why our once-proud British industry can no longer produce its own main battle tank or sufficient munitions for wartime needs?

Why is no one challenging the insidious encroachment of both Conservative and Labour to cosy up to EU defence unification plans, where our forces could be deployed at the whim of Brussels bureaucrats, far from the scrutiny of our own Parliament or will of the people?

What of the holy horror of the state of our nuclear deterrent, neglected and undermined by short sighted budgeting and bureaucratic raids. While officials hide behind classified stamps, our nuclear capability languishes, the malaise carefully concealed from any scrutiny.

For decades the defence budget has operated to short-term Treasury forecasts. These years of neglect by successive governments make our defence capabilities increasingly dependent on foreign powers, foreign industry and if EU unification plans are allowed to succeed, EU foreign policy.

The situation the government is determined we continue to slide into is one that erodes our sovereignty and weakens our ability to respond to threats independently.

It's time to reverse this trend, not simply by throwing money at the problem, but by revitalizing our industrial base and protecting strategic manufacturing capability, protecting critical technology sectors from foreign ownership, and resetting the dysfunctional relationship between defence procurement and operational needs.

There are no new lessons in maintaining defence of the realm and watching mistakes of the past being repeated only serves to remind us of the incompetence of our current political class.

Until we have leaders who understand the importance of defence, parliamentarians who have a grasp of military strategy and understand capability generation, and a media less with concerned with sensationalism and more concerned with national security, our ability to defend ourselves and uphold our values on the world stage, already parlous, will become further compromised, a situation already publicly noted by our US allies.

It's time to wake up to the reality of our defence crisis before the rot goes any further. Unfortunately, the words and actions of our current government and their opposition give us little hope.