Report warns UK is unprepared for modern threats without strong resilience

The UK’s approach to home defence is “underpowered and dangerously slow” when compared with key allies, leaving the country exposed to a growing range of threats, according to a new report.

The paper warns that the UK faces critical vulnerabilities unless home defence is treated as a strategic priority, with urgent action needed to bring together what it describes as a fragmented and poorly coordinated system.

It argues that without clear leadership, stronger governance and rapid mobilisation of resources, the UK risks “strategic paralysis” at a time when threats are becoming more frequent and complex.

Those threats include cyber attacks, sabotage and attacks on critical national infrastructure and communications systems. In response, the authors call on the government to rapidly operationalise home defence as part of the ‘whole-of-society’ approach set out in the 2025 Strategic Defence Review.

The report says practical steps are needed to better prepare both organisations and the public. It highlights the need for industry and public bodies to move away from ‘just in time’ responses to crises, instead building resilience through stockpiling, greater self-sufficiency and reduced reliance on imports.

Looking overseas, the paper points to countries such as Finland, Poland and the Baltic states as examples of best practice. It recommends the appointment of a lead government department with a clear mandate for home defence, supported by executive powers, dedicated funding and specialist expertise.

Timelines for delivering and implementing a national home defence strategy should be measured in months rather than years, the report argues. It also stresses the importance of building on existing capabilities across central and local government, law enforcement and the emergency services, which are already involved in resilience and crisis response planning.

Public education is identified as another urgent priority. The authors call for large-scale training and education programmes involving emergency services, police, local and central government officials, industry leaders and civil society groups, to encourage a more active role for the public in national resilience.

The report, Making Sense of Home Defence, was written by Frances Tammer, Harry Pitts and Gareth Stansfield from the University of Exeter, with a foreword by Paul Cornish, Director of the Centre for the Public Understanding of Defence and Security.

“Direction from above and resource commitment are sorely lacking, which leaves the current approach to readiness looking amateur and without unifying purpose. The UK is at a standing start, whilst many of our allies are years ahead. The UK seems reluctant to have a proper nationwide conversation about defence, whilst others are not at all reticent.”

Professor Tammer.

While multiple government reports have highlighted the importance of home defence, including the 2025 Strategic Defence Review, the paper argues that existing initiatives remain disconnected. It points in particular to the absence of a nationwide training and education programme and calls for a tailored UK-level home defence exercise to bring capabilities together.

You can read the full report here.

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