Royal Navy 'far weaker' than it was during Falklands War

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Laura Hughes

Britain's Royal Navy is substantially weaker than it was during the Falklands War but could still "cripple" Spain, military experts have said.

Rear-Adml Chris Parry, a former director of operational capability at the Ministry of Defence, has called on the Government to "appropriately" invest in Britain's military capacity if it wants to "talk big" over Gibraltar. 

It came as a former Tory leader suggested that Theresa May would go to war with Spain to defend the sovereignty of the peninsular just as Margaret Thatcher did with the Falklands.

Lord Howard said the Prime Minister will stand by Gibraltar during Brexit talks amid claims of an EU “land grab” for the territory. 

As the Government moved to retake the Falkland Islands from Argentina in 1982, the Royal Navy had no fewer than 127 ships — including 60 destroyers and frigates and a dozen nuclear attack submarines - as well as two major amphibious ships and three aircraft carriers.

The latest figures show the Navy has no aircraft carriers in service, 7 nuclear attack submarines, 13 frigates and six destroyers, down from a combined fleet of 33 in 2000. 

Britain's military budget represented around four percent of GDP in the 1980s under Margaret Thatcher, at a time when the economy was a lot smaller, while it sits at just two per cent under Theresa May.

Rear-Adml Parry said that he did not believe current tensions would lead to military conflict.

But he said: "If the Government wants to talk big over Gibraltar, or indeed anywhere else, they have to invest appropriately in the military capacity to back that up. 

Lord Howard has suggested that Theresa May would go to war with Spain to defend the sovereignty of Gibraltar CREDIT: MARCOS MORENO/AFP

"We are a lot less powerful than we were during the Falklands and we are less sustainable over time. Our capacity for actually enforcing our national will in military terms is significantly less. 

"Our war fighting assets are weak after years of operations in Afghanistan and Iraq and because of the disingenuous way in which the Government has resourced defence.

However, he insisted that Britain's military capability "significantly" over-matches Spain's and that if it came to a war, the UK is - qualitatively - three times more powerful. Our capacity to do them harm is far greater.

Bur he added: "We could cripple Spain in the medium term and I think the Americans would probably support us too. Spain should learn from history that it is never worth taking us on and that we could still singe the King of Spain’s beard”.