Kremlin isn't cowed by PowerPoint - three actions that would actually boost defence

With much fanfare, the Government finally wheeled out its 'Strategic Defence Review' this morning - hungry for headlines, and they got them. But behind the spin lies a one-year delay in which Sir Keir's government kicked vital defence decisions into the long grass. A delay that served no one but the Treasury. They talk about "sending a clear message to Moscow".

So let me be blunt: if this review is meant as a message to Moscow, it must be written in steel and skills - contracts, apprenticeships, and sovereign supply chains - not just social media soundbites. The Kremlin isn't cowed by PowerPoint. Deterrence is measured in battalions, brigades and boat slips, not in vague promises to spend, mostly postponed until 2035.

A year ago, the incoming Labour government scrapped the Conservative pledge to spend 2.5% of on . Now, after twelve jittery months, they've sheepishly re-adopted the very target we had already set.

But in the meantime, our Armed Forces have been left in limbo - projects cancelled, timelines pushed back - while a government more focused on giving up vital assets like the Chagos Islands scrambled to get its act together.

The truth is this review is less about strategy and more about the Treasury parking tanks on the parade square. Every month of "consultation" has postponed shipyards being tooled, factories hiring welders, and tech firms taking on apprentices. Delay is dressed up as diligence.

Britain's deterrent doesn't run on press releases. It runs on steel plate cut in Barrow, intelligence gathered in Cheltenham, and young men and women trained to build the next generation of kit here at home. Lock in the contracts, light up the yards, and let the Treasury find savings elsewhere.

Because if we are serious about deterrence, then 2.5% won't cut it. We need to be planning now for 4% and beyond - before the threats get ahead of us.