𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Labour plans to ensure British troops have enough ammunition to fight might not be finished until the next decade, the Daily Express can reveal. A parliamentary question has laid bare the scale of the crisis, despite Labour announcing a £6billion scheme to build six new munitions factories so the country is “battle-ready”.

Ministers admitted that the spades will not be in the ground for months, with work not set to start until August this year. It is understood that the Government is undertaking a range of different options to get the country ready for conflict, and that a hard deadline for the completion of the munitions plants was not stated to be before 2030. Experts said that even on a sped-up timetable, major projects like this can take years to complete, equip, and get running.

The first site is due to start construction at the end of the year, defence specialists say, but could then take three years or more to even start churning out munitions.

It means the six-factory programme may not be fully delivered until the end of the decade – and potentially beyond if delays emerge.

Retired Army Major Andrew Fox said the Government could not “claim to be battle-ready while the factories needed to sustain a conflict are still years away”.

Deterring Britain’s enemies depends on “production, stockpiles and speed”, he told the Daily Express.

“Our adversaries will not wait for Whitehall timetables,” the soldier, who served in the Middle East, added. “Ministers must now accelerate delivery and publish the Defence Investment Plan without further hesitation.”

The snail’s pace of rearming the country comes amid rising global instability and mounting pressure on the country’s already slim stockpiles of ammunition.

It has even been reported that the British Army only had two weeks worth of ammunition, although it is understood steps are being taken to improve that situation.

The UK has already been drawn into a rising number of defensive engagements, reportedly more than 80, during the Iran conflict, which set the Middle East ablaze.

Scrutiny of previous efforts to boost domestic defence infrastructure found multiple schemes running behind schedule.

One location, in Burghfield, West Berkshire, which built replacement warheads, is 76 months delayed.

Sir Keir Starmer’s Conservative rivals have pledged to get Britain’s defence spending up to 3% of GDP, saying that doing so would require “tough choices”.

The party has previously called for the two-child benefit cap to be reinstated, with that money diverted to the armed forces.

Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge warned that the public was “tired of rhetoric without action from Labour”.

He added that without the “long-overdue Defence Investment Plan, there remains no clear plan to meet spending commitments, leaving us a world away from where we should be.”

Wars across Ukraine and the Middle East “should have been a wake-up call” he argued, adding that Labour continued to “dither and delay when decisive leadership is required”.

Confirming that the work on the plans would begin construction by the end of the year, the MoD did not deny it could be until the next decade before the online.

A spokesman said they intended to “open an investment window later this year to accelerate progress” on the plants.

They added: “This is just one part of our move to warfighting readiness, backed by the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War, investing over £270 billion in defence across this Parliament, ensuring no return to the hollowed out Armed Forces of the past.”