A brief guide to previous British defence reviews

On 16 July 2024 the Labour Government announced a new strategic defence review. The government said the review will “consider the threats Britain faces, the capabilities needed to meet them, the state of UK armed forces and the resources available.” The review will be led by Lord Robertson, a former Defence Secretary and NATO Secretary General, and will report in the first half of 2025.

What is a defence review?

A defence review enables a government to present a forward-looking assessment of Britain’s strategic interests and requisite military requirements. It examines the defence and security landscape, identifies current and emerging threats and then decides how best to organise and equip the Armed Forces.

Recent iterations have broadened beyond purely defence considerations to encompass foreign, security and development issues.

There are restrictions. Any new government inherits the defence policy, force numbers and force capabilities of its predecessor. Procurement of major pieces of equipment take years, sometimes decades, to come into service, meaning governments can be financially tied to expensive programmes not of their own making.

Evolution of British defence reviews

The first major, wholesale strategic defence review post World War Two is widely considered to be the Sandys Review in 1957. There has been at least one defence review in every decade since then at irregular intervals. This paper briefly discusses each of these.

In 2010, the government expanded beyond purely defence matters to incorporate linked areas of policy including counter-terrorism; international aid and diplomacy; border and cyber security; and homeland defence.

Further reviews were conducted in 2015 and in 2021. The latter was entitled the Integrated Review of security, defence, development and foreign policy (IR21), reflecting the broadening scope of the review. It was accompanied by a separate command paper focusing on defence and the armed forces.

2023 review

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Government committed to refreshing the Integrated Review. This was published in March 2023 (IR23), followed by a refreshed defence command paper in July 2023.

The IR23 affirmed many of the trends shaping the international environment identified in IR21: shifts in the distribution of global power; inter-state ‘systemic’ competition over the nature of the international order; rapid technological change; and worsening transnational challenges.

However, the government said the “transition into a multipolar, fragmented and contested world has happened more quickly and definitively than anticipated”.

The Shadow Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, said the refresh was “overdue but welcome”, noting “this is a challenging moment for our security and that of our allies and for our place in the world.” However, he also said the refresh “does not answer growing questions concerning capability gaps that weaken our national defence and undermine the UK’s NATO contribution“.

The Labour Government

Following the general election on 4 July, the new Labour government announced a new strategic defence review on 16 July. The terms of reference said the review will consider all aspects of defence but will not consider other areas of national security. The review will be externally led and is expected to report to the Prime Minister and Defence Secretary in the first half of 2025.