Mark Francois issues dire warning on UK defence: 'It's a risk to our national security'

Reading from the report, titled ‘It is broke - and it’s time to fix it’, Francois said: “We have discovered a UK procurement system that is highly bureaucratic, overly stratified, far too ponderous with an inconsistent approach to safety, very poor accountability, and a culture which appears institutionally averse to individual responsibility.”

The MP for Rayleigh and Wickford also read out the report’s conclusion: “We believe the system is now in need of major, comprehensive reform.”

The Conservative MP noted that there is now a very real “risk to national security and also to that of our allies,” due to reliance on dated and faulty equipment.

Francois emphasised that, with the war in Ukraine, the UK could “get drawn into this conflict” and “might conceivably have to fight at short notice.”

Francois believes that the country would not be well-equipped to enter any form of conflict.

He noted: “If you look at the army, some of the vehicles we would have to fight with, because of these procurement failures, are fourty or fifty or even sixty years old.

“We cannot field a full war fighting division, which is a commitment to Nato.”

He added: “We can’t meet our Nato commitments to our allies.”

Francois drew comparisons between Britain’s main procurement arm, the Defence Equipment and Support (DES), which employs 11,500 people, with the equivalent department in Israel.

In Israel, the Department of Procurement and Production (DOPP) employs 300 people, prompting Francois to conclude that “we need to slim the whole thing down.”

It comes following the news that Ben Wallace will resign at the next Cabinet reshuffle and will not seek re-election as an MP after four years as Defence Secretary.

He will stand down but ruled out leaving “prematurely” and triggering another by-election for the Conservatives to battle.

Wallace, who survived three prime ministers as Defence Secretary, played a key role in the UK’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and was a close ally of Boris Johnson.

His Wyre and Preston North constituency will disappear at the next election after boundary changes and he said he would not seek a new seat.

“I went into politics in the Scottish Parliament in 1999. That’s 24 years. I’ve spent well over seven years with three phones by my bed,” he told the Sunday Times.

On Wallace, Francois said: “He will be a loss. He’s been out longest serving Defence Secretary in living memory.”

He added: “Ben Wallace, perhaps with a soldier’s instinct, saw the Russian invasion coming and he took on the Whitehall establishment to make sure the Ukrainians got thousands of NLAWs.

“If they hadn’t had those NLAWs, the Russians would be in Kyiv now, So Ben Wallace, whether you love him or hate him, helped to save Ukraine.”

Ben Wallace had suggested recently that Kyiv rein in its vocal disappointment over Nato accession if it wishes to persuade doubting Western politicians to keep funding the war effort.

In a blunt intervention, the UK Defence Secretary noted that “people want to see gratitude” from Ukraine over weapons and aid.

Wallace recalled responding to the Ukrainian government’s shopping list of weapons with the phrase “we’re not Amazon” last year.