Theresa May’s national security adviser last night suggested there would be no new money to protect the country despite his alarming warnings of the soaring threats facing the UK.
Mark Sedwill said the threat from Russia was worse than ever imagined as he compared the effect of cyber-attacks on the UK to bombing raids during World War 2.
Giving evidence to a parliamentary inquiry, he also warned the terrorist threat had ‘diversified and dispersed’, partly because of the military success in Iraq and Syria.
But despite the rising threats, he suggested a crucial ongoing review of Britain’s security and defence capability would not result in any more cash for the military and spies.
This prompted suggestions from MPs that there would be a ‘trading-off’ of some defence capabilities in which ships would be scrapped to meet other more modern threats such as cyber.
Mark Sedwill (pictured) compared the effect of cyber-attacks on the UK to bombing raids during World War 2
MPs and Lords responded by telling him the Government needed to ‘wake up’ to the ‘enormous scale’ of the threats facing Britain and not underestimate an assertive Russia.
Mr Sedwill is carrying out a wide-ranging review examining the state of UK defences, due to be published early next year. Yesterday he admitted for the first time it was a ‘fiscally neutral exercise’.
‘This exercise is looking at how we can make best use of the resources available to us now against the threat picture’, he said.
He said there could be a ‘higher impact’ with the same amount of money.
The review has prompted concerns from former military chiefs that Britain’s armed forces could be ‘hollowed out’ to enable the UK to focus on more ‘modern’ threats such as cyber.
Mr Sedwill said in the modern era the same effect could be achieved from going after the physical infrastructure of cyber space and the internet than bombing raids in WW2.
He said of Russia and the terrorist threat: ‘They have probably become troublesome, faster and more broadly than was anticipated at the time.
‘Clearly the Russian attitude has worsened more generally towards the West and that seems set to continue and the terrorist threat has diversified and dispersed.
‘Of course that is partly because of the success of the military campaign against Daesh (Islamic State) in Syria and Iraq itself but also because of the way that terrorist threat has developed and innovated.’
He warned Russia were clearly developing capabilities designed to disrupt Nato capabilities in the North Atlantic.
He added: ‘We know that the Russian threat is intensifying and diversifying.’
Mr Sedwill hinted that the UK could be forced to rely on its allies to fight future wars, saying: ‘One of the capabilities the Russians don’t have is allies.’
He said: ‘If you put together the British, French and German defence budgets… it is about twice the Russian defence budget.
‘We can’t just compare to our own historic experience.’
Earlier this month it emerged French military chiefs were drawing up plans to let the Royal Marines borrow their warships if UK vessels are axed.
Mr Sedwill said the threat from Russia (pictured, Vladimir Putin) was worse than he ever imagined
Dr Julian Lewis, chair of the defence select committee, responded, saying: ‘Anyone who underestimates Russia’s military potential and size of their GDP does so at their peril.’
Lord King of Bridgwater, former Northern Ireland Secretary and Defence Secretary during the Gulf War, warned the country needed to ‘wake up’ to the threats.
He said: ‘In the old days if you wanted to attack a country you bomb their airports, you damage their railways lines, now you just shut those systems down.
‘It seems to me we still haven’t woken up to the enormous scale of what is going on.’
Mr Sedwill also spoke about the threat from extremists and said the Defence Secretary was ‘absolutely right’ when he said jihadists posing a risk should be killed when necessary.
He said: ‘The Defence Secretary is absolutely right that among those interventions is and remains lethal strikes when necessary.’
His comments came as ministers are deciding whether to scrap the navy’s amphibious landing fleet to help plug a £20billion funding black hole.
The comments came as a defence select committee published a report on the F-35 fighter jets being bought by the Ministry of Defence to fly off the new aircraft carrier.
The report found there was an ‘unacceptable’ lack of transparency with regards the costs of the programme.
Both Lockheed Martin and the MoD were unable to say how much each jet would cost when the retrofits, software updates, spares and logistical support was factored in.
In a separate development, academics found suspected Russia-linked Twitter accounts sought to foment fear and discord in Britain after a series of terror attacks.
Cardiff University researchers discovered hundreds of related messages in 47 accounts which were linked to Russia.
Examples included: ‘Another day, another Muslim terrorist attack. Retweet if you think that Islam needs to be banned!’
They included nearly 300 messages after May’s attack on the Ariana Grande pop concert in Manchester, 140 after June’s London Bridge attack and 35 after March’s Westminster Bridge atrocity.
A Twitter spokesman said: ‘In each of the attacks, the tweets identified in this research represent less than 0.01 per cent of the total tweets sent in the 24-hour period following the attack.’