Words by Freddie Folkes
In January of this year the University of Manchester was believed to be on a list of universities which advised defence companies not to attend job fairs due to the threat of possible ‘intimidation or harassment’ by student-led activist groups. This list includes other major UK universities including the University of Edinburgh, the University of Liverpool and Cardiff University.
In recent years, especially with the recent conflict in Gaza, the UK’s defence sector and armed forces have been receiving increasing criticism, particularly from the student community. What is consistently overlooked, however, is the indispensability of the nation’s defence which has been disregarded time and again.
Now Britain’s vulnerability is similarly suffering from this wishful ignorance.
This comes as no surprise, as British territory has not been directly threatened for over 40 years since the Falklands War in 1982. The percentage of the population that has had military experience, and knows the military’s vital position as the backbone of any state, has decreased dramatically over the previous four decades.
This is evident in the current cabinet, of which not a single member, including the Defence Secretary John Healey, has previously served in the armed forces. In sharp contrast to the 1982 cabinet of which the Defence Secretary Francis Pym, the Lord Chancellor Quintin Hogg and the Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Geoffrey Howe all had military experience, to name a few.
Sadly, the world is rapidly coming out of the relative Pax Mundi which it had been blessed with since 1991. Times are quickly changing and the UK is not immune to a number of dramatic diplomatic and military events in recent years, making the international situation significantly more volatile and less stable.
The war in Ukraine, which has been raging for nearly three years, is a stark indicator of this new threat. The war has taken on a merciless character, with attacks against civilian infrastructure using ballistic and cruise missiles, and huge quantities of manpower and resources used. It goes far to show that the nature of modern war between states involves much more than small scale elite troop engagements.
During the conflict Russia has significantly increased its military capability. So much so that its defence budget has had a 1000% increase since 2018 from $45.1 billion to $462 billion in 2024 – more than all of Europe combined.
In the meantime, the UK’s armed forces have been hollowed out and shaved away over the previous two decades. For perspective, the British Army has been forced to cut the Apache attack-helicopter fleet to 50 airframes, compared to Poland’s recent order of 96. To replace the last of the AS90 self-propelled Howitzer artillery systems sent to Ukraine – of which the fleet once numbered 179 – the Government has procured 14 Archer systems from Sweden.
The Government has also chosen to reduce the number of active personnel in Britain’s standing army, with it now projected to fall below 70,000 – smaller than the capacity of Old Trafford football stadium. Most alarming is the complete absence of static air defence nationwide, uncovered in an investigation by The Times last month, and a reliance based nearly wholly on the fleet of 6 destroyers for this purpose, which could barely cover London, let alone the entire nation.
Alarm bells have only now begun to ring in the top brass. Starmer’s recent pledge to increase defence spending to more than 2.5% of GDP is still far from adequate to meet the threats which now face the country. With Trump breaking the status quo and undermining NATO on an almost daily basis, Ukraine faces a similar recurrence to the 1938 Czechoslovakia appeasement that led to the breakout of war on the continent in 1939. Now, Britain’s strong stance alongside its European allies is more important than ever.
The Israel-Gaza conflict also holds large responsibility for the skewed perceptions of the importance of a strong national defence capability and a lack of recognition of the UK defence sector. For example, the UK only makes up less than 1% of Israel’s defence imports, of which the value fell to just £18 million in 2023. The UK’s defence sector is not a criminal, evil-ridden, big brother organisation seeking to maximise profit by bloodshed – which many ill-informed protesters seem to perceive it as – but a thriving, vital industry full of some of the UK’s most talented individuals, which needs to be protected.
The defence industry is there for what it’s called: defence. The defence of this nation-state, its liberties, and the freedom to express liberal values. The defence sector, as with the armed forces, is there to prevent wars, not start them, and can only achieve this through its continued vitality and the credible ability to deter potential aggressors.
The University of Manchester, as well as the others, should have a reassessment of their policy of exclusion. Not only does it lead to a key diminishing of opportunities for young people to get involved in an essential, dynamic industry, but it directly threatens the nation’s security.
Equally, if not more importantly, students must assess their own perceptions of the status of defence in this country. The very right that protestors have to protest, and the very right to write this article, is only possible because of people defending this country’s liberties.
Involvement and conversations in the debate of defence, whether in agreement or against, are a vital topic which must be discussed more, as ignoring it is no longer an option. Put simply: if a ballistic missile landed on Oxford Street or on a Fallowfield terraced row of houses, as in Ukraine, wouldn’t you protest over the complete negligence of the country’s ability to defend itself against the increasing reality of this new threat?
