Former Armed Forces Minister 'Not Confident' That Europe Will Rise To Defence Challenge
James Heappey was Minister of State for the Armed Forces from 2020 to 2024
3 min read4 min
A former defence minister has said he is not confident that a "coalition of the willing" can deliver sufficient military protection for Ukraine due to the expense involved.
James Heappey, a former Conservative MP was the minister of state for the armed forces from 2020 to 2024, told The Rundown podcast from PoliticsHome that countries would have to decide to "prioritise defence spending over their domestic agendas", describing the move as "quite challenging".
On Sunday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosted a Europe defence summit in London, following his trip to Washington DC to meet president Donald Trump earlier in the week.
Starmer said after the summit concluded that the UK and other European countries were ready to form a "coalition of the willing" in a bid to defend Ukraine if a peace deal is reached.
The PM has said the government is willing to put "boots on the ground and planes in the air" in the region to deter future Russian aggression.
Further conversations have since taken place.
On Thursday, Western officials said that a further planning meeting had been convened by the UK on the back of Sunday's talks. Around 20 interested countries attended the meeting, which consisted of largely European Union and Commonwealth partners — notably more than the 19 attending Sunday's summit.
Asked by PoliticsHome how confident he was that the promises being made by European nations can be delivered on, Heappey said: "Honestly, not very."
Heappey said that the reality is "a reflection of our societies, as much as it's a reflection of our governments".
He said "the political intent is all there", but pointed out that countries in the EU would have to "take on debt" to fund higher spending on defence.
The president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen announced an €800bn defense plan on Tuesday, including the option of loans to fund an increase in defence spending.
Heappey said the problem with the proposal is that it is not "new" or "free money".
"It's just giving member states the opportunity to borrow more to fund defence."
As a result, countries will "have to make the decision to take on that debt", Heappey said.
The former Conservative MP said he feared that voters in countries including Britain would be reluctant to accept the tough decisions necessary for funding a "bloody expensive" defence policy.
People "don't want to be buffeted by international events", he said, but the way to avoid that is "having the hard power that deters people from taking you on".
He said there must be "societal" change like banks funding the defence industry and universities welcoming defence companies and the armed forces to careers fairs and freshers fairs.
"There's a whole load of things that across Europe we've got to do societally to row in behind decisions that our governments and prime ministers and presidents are taking," Heappey added.
Former defence minister Tobias Ellwood told PoliticsHome earlier this week that the government should restore the national service to bolster the potential deployment of British troops to Ukraine under a peace deal.
For the full interview with James Heappey, as well as Lib Dem defence spokesperson Helen Maguire, ex-Tory minister Greg Hands and More in Common's Luke Tryl, listen to the new episode of The Rundown, out Friday.
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