27 Mar 26. MPs and Lords call for more clarity on Government’s plan for UK national security.
Report: The National Security Strategy
The Government must provide more clarity on its plans to protect the UK’s national security, MPs and Peers argue in a report published today.
The Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy has today published a report examining the Government’s National Security Strategy, published in June 2025, which set out the Government’s ambitions to improve security at home, project strength abroad and develop ‘sovereign capabilities’.
In its report, the Joint Committee calls for credible funding arrangements to boost national resilience; more robust plans to develop sovereign capabilities; stronger civil resilience measures, including better use of reservists; and deeper engagement with industry on developing the domestic defence industrial base.
The Committee also highlights the scale of strategic dependence on the US in areas such as nuclear, intelligence and conventional defence. While the Committee recommends the UK continue to collaborate with the US, it also says that the Government should prepare, along with European allies, for a transition towards greater European leadership of NATO and continue to develop partnerships with non-NATO allies around the world.
Other recommendations the Committee makes in the report include:
Strength abroad
The UK must invest in partnerships with other ‘middle powers’ such as Canada, Australia and India, the Committee says, to avoid being squeezed by competition between the United States and China.
Russia
As long as Russia continues its war in Ukraine and carries out aggression against the UK and its allies, the Government must ensure that ever greater costs are imposed on it, the Committee says. The UK must take a lead on this within NATO and hasten work such as the Defence Investment Plan, the Defence Readiness Bill and the Rycroft Review.
China
The Committee raises concerns that the Government is not striking the right balance between security risks and the desire for closer economic ties with China. It calls for the Government to be more proactive and transparent about ensuring national security interests are prioritised in its dealings with China.
Nuclear context
The Committee says a credible, sustainable and independent UK nuclear deterrent is “integral” to UK national security and as a buffer against proliferation in an era of fast-changing nuclear risks. It calls for more clarity on how the UK plans to extend collaboration with France on nuclear issues.
Sovereign capabilities
While the NSS emphasises the importance of sovereignty in areas such as nuclear, emerging technology and steelmaking, the Committee notes a lack of clear definition about what the Government considers to be a sovereign capability. It calls for the Government to provide a clear, written definition of what a sovereign capability is, agreed across Government and including different levels of sovereignty.
Defence industrial base
The Committee calls on the Government to publish the Defence Investment Plan as soon as possible. The Plan should detail how the Government will support firms, particularly SMEs, to revitalise the UK’s defence industrial base and avoid being acquired by foreign investors.
Resilience spending
The Government is planning to spend 1.5% of GDP on resilience and security by 2027, in line with NATO targets. But the Committee criticises a lack of clarity over what new capability this investment will deliver.
The Committee calls for ministers to ensure that planned spending of 1.5% of GDP on resilience and security by 2027 prioritises investments in long-term resilience and new capabilities.
Critical National Infrastructure
The Committee welcomes plans for greater use of military reserves in protecting Critical National Infrastructure, such as undersea cables and energy pipelines. It calls for the Government to provide more detail on how it will involve reserves, including how they will be deployed in a crisis.
Whole-of society security
It is not evident that the Government’s “whole-of-society” approach to security and resilience is getting through to the public, the Committee says. It calls for the Government to set out more detail on its “national conversation” on security and resilience.
The Chair of the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy, Matt Western MP, said:
“The conflict we currently see unfolding in the Middle East underscores just how important it is for the UK Government to chart a clear path in a very uncertain world. This report makes clear the tough choices the Government will have to make to keep UK citizens safe.
The post-war settlement has served the UK and its allies well for nearly a century. Our report calls on the Government to bolster that settlement by building strong partnerships with other countries likely to be squeezed in a new era of great power competition.
The unpredictability of the US relationship is a growing concern. The UK’s deep dependence on the US for security guarantees has a long history, and the partnership will outlast Prime Ministers and Presidents alike. But the UK needs a clear plan to move away from some areas of strategic reliance to ensure the UK can pursue its national interest.
Ministers are right to identify Russia as the most serious and urgent threat to our security. The UK must lead efforts to counter its hostile activity.
The UK’s policy towards China is more complicated. The Committee is concerned that the Government has not yet found the right balance between cooperation and challenge. Long-term security may well have short-term costs. The Government must be more proactive and transparent in exactly how it is addressing national security issues when it engages with Beijing.
Spending is a further issue. The Government must publish the Defence Investment Plan as soon as possible, with concrete details of how it will help firms to give new life to the UK’s defence industrial base.
It should also set out both how its spending plans for resilience will add capability beyond what the UK already has, and how it will deploy military reserves to protect the UK’s Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) in the event of a reasonable worst-case scenario. These plans must link to the overall vision for strengthening the UK’s resilience across industry and society.
Recent weeks and months have shown our current geopolitical environment to be dangerous and unpredictable. The National Security Strategy sets out a framework for handling a volatile world: the Government must now deliver.”
10 Mar 26. Defence Committee statement: developments in the Middle East. In response to recent developments in the Middle East, the Defence Committee has issued the following statement:
“Members of the cross-party Defence Committee met this morning with senior civilian and military officials from the Ministry of Defence, for a secret briefing on operations in Iran and the wider region.
“Although we cannot comment on the substance of that discussion, those Members present were left satisfied that the UK’s decision making and preparedness measures in place ahead of the recent military activity were grounded in a coherent logic.
“We note, however, the considerable gap between some of the political rhetoric circulating internationally, and the reality of the UK’s support to the United States and regional partners.
“The situation has also underlined longstanding and grave concerns – which we share – about whether the Royal Navy has sufficient capacity and resilience to respond effectively to a crisis at a time of worsening global security.
“We therefore call upon the Government to urgently release the Defence Investment Plan and take steps to increase spending on defence to 3% of GDP during this Parliament.”
27 Mar 26. Armed Forces Bill Committee begins line-by-line scrutiny of the bill. The Select Committee on the Armed Forces Bill moves into the next phase of their work this week, and will begin line-by-line scrutiny of the Armed Forces Bill. This week’s sessions are likely to focus on aspects of the bill covering the Armed Forces Covenant and Defence housing.
Session will take place on:
- Tuesday 24 March, 09:25
- Tuesday 24 March, 14:00
- Thursday 26 March, 09:25
The evidence sessions will be broadcast on Parliament Live from their respective start times.