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Ministers have been accused of “trying to play down” the threat posed by Iran as a former defence secretary warned Britain would be a sitting duck to a missile fired by Tehran. Sir Ben Wallace said Labour needs to “level with the public” about the dangers facing the country after it emerged a bill to put the UK on a warfooting has been delayed.

Israel last month said Iran had developed missiles capable of reaching London and other western European capitals, sparking further alarm over the state of Britain’s defences. The warning came after Iran fired two ballistic missiles at the joint UK-US base of Diego Garcia, nearly 4,000 kilometres (2,500 miles) away. Sir Ben, who was the Conservatives’ longest-serving defence secretary, said Britain would be unable to repel an Iranian missile strike “at the moment”.

Speaking to Times Radio, he said: “I give an example of a threat that the Government doesn’t want you to know about or talk about.

“You covered a few weeks ago that the Iranians fired two missiles towards Diego Garcia and then a minister appeared on your show trying to play down that any ranges within the UK were unrealistic.

“That’s not correct. The Iranians took two boosters – Salman boosters from the space programme – added it to their existing missiles and have now been able to produce missiles with ranges that could hit Britain in the future.

“And, if it’s not Iran, the point is that the technology is now allowing ranges to grow.”

When asked whether Britain could down an Iranian missile fired at the country, he said: “No we wouldn’t, not at the moment.”

The UK’s only defence against ballistic or hypersonic missiles is the Royal Navy’s six Type 45 destroyers.

As of a couple weeks ago, only one was believed to be operational in UK waters with four out of service and the remaining ship, HMS Dragon, deployed to the Eastern Mediterranean to help protect an RAF base in Cyprus amid ongoing tensions in the region.

The ships, which have suffered availability issues, can take out targets at around 70 miles away.

This means an Iranian missile would need to be flying within this radius for the ships to be able to take it out, which analysts deem as unlikely.

Israel warned Iran had developed missiles with a range of around 4,000 kilometres, putting London in striking distance.

London is about 4,400 kilometres (2,700 miles) from Iran and experts widely believe it would be possible for an Iranian missile to reach the capital, with fears Iran could use its space technology to extend it even further.

However, an Iranian missile hitting London is deemed extremely unlikely as it would likely be downed by NATO air defences in Europe before reaching the UK

Following Israel’s warning over Iran’s missile capability, a UK cabinet minister insisted there was “no assessment to substantiate” Israel’s claim.

Sir Ben was speaking to Times Radio after reports on Monday that plans to ensure that Britain’s industries and critical infrastructure are prepared for war are to be delayed.

The Defence Readiness Bill, which ministers had said would be introduced this year, is not expected to feature in the Government’s forthcoming legislative plans, The Times reports.

Sir Ben said: “I’m not saying that if my government had stayed in power everything would be perfect. Not at all.

“I would have probably been still battling with successive chancellors and prime ministers for more funding.

“But you cannot pause the momentum of going up because, if you do, what happens is you stop being able to defend yourself. But it’s the bigger point.

“It’s the point about this [Defence] Readiness Bill – levelling with the public that we’re going to have to think differently, think in some areas a bit like the Cold War-era where we all had… every county council had a nuclear bunker.

“Everyone was prepared, the civilian society was prepared. Ex-soldiers like me would have been a reservist, would have been called up.

“All of that discussion needs to happen with the public.”

Responding to the reports over the Readiness Bill, Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge said “Labour’s dither and delay on defence goes from bad to worse”.

A Government spokesperson said national security “is our first duty”.

“We have the resources we need to keep the United Kingdom safe from attacks, whether it’s on our soil or from abroad,” they said.

“We’re constantly hardening and sharpening our approach to homeland security, backed by the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War, making the UK well able to respond to the threats we face.

“We don’t comment on speculation regarding the King’s Speech.”