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Britain must divert money from welfare to warfare as the military is ”simply unprepared" for an inevitable conflict, former Defence Minister Tobias Ellwood has told LBC.
Speaking to Tom Swarbrick at Drive, the ex-Conservative MP said he backs Tory Party leader Kemi Badenoch’s pledge to restore the two-child benefit cap in order to fund a boost to defence spending as “war is coming to us whether we like it or not”.
It comes as conflict rages in the Middle East, which Mr Ellwood warned is “expanding” and having an “enormous” economic impact.
“In these last seven days we are seen to be woefully unprepared for what’s coming over the hill,” he warned.
He said it is not just the big platforms such as ships, planes and tanks which Britain falls short on, but also munitions, stockpiles and human resources.
“I stress that war is coming to us whether we like it or not. We are simply unprepared for a new era of insecurity,” Mr Ellwood told Tom.
He added: “What we're now seeing play out in the last few days is just how the war there is expanding, it's not contained and the economic impact of that is enormous.
'War is coming to us…'
Former Defence Minister @Tobias_Ellwood tells @TomSwarbick1 that Britain's military is 'woefully underprepared', and calls for welfare cuts to compensate. pic.twitter.com/F6F69Wnif7— LBC (@LBC) March 6, 2026
“We need to wake up. We need to spend more on defence and we need to cut that welfare bill.”
It comes after Al Carns, minister of state for the armed forces, warned the UK's forces were under-prepared for any future conflict, with "much of their hardware stuck in the past".
Meanwhile, the Government has been criticised for failing to have enough military assets in the Middle East region after RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus was hit by a drone.
This week, Mrs Badenoch said in a video posted to social media earlier Britain must rebuild its “fighting strength” as the world is “tipping” amid the Iran war, which has seen British bases targeted.
She added: “Our plan means more troops, properly trained, properly equipped. It means that we can boost the army to 80,000 regulars and increase our reserves.
“Deterrence is cheaper than war, but weakness is the most expensive policy of all.”She vowed: “We will restore the two-child benefit cap and we will put those welfare savings into defence”
Labour committed to scrapping the two child benefit cap from April.
The policy, introduced under the Conservatives in 2017, means parents can only claim Universal Credit for their first two children.
Scrapping the measure is estimated to cost in the region of £3 billion a year by 2029-30.
But reports suggest the prime minister is considering accelerating planned increases to defence spending, after NATO figures warned the UK risks falling behind European allies.
Chancellor Rachael Reeves has reportedly pushed back on the plan, rejecting requests by the Ministry of Defence to increase its budget by billions of pounds.
And, as reported by LBC in November, senior military figures have warned the Government that the MoD faces a funding ‘crisis’, and could be forced to cut key capabilities within two years at a time of growing threats from Russia.
Earlier this week, Baroness Cathy Ashton called on the Prime Minister to press ahead with raising defence spending amid the deteriorating situation in the Middle East and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
She said there is a “general sense of a world that is unstable”, and it is no longer enough to blame the previous Government for not doing more as the death toll in conflicts around the world piles up.
“When you look at the situation both in Ukraine, what's now happening in the Middle East, and this general sense of a world that is unstable, it's really important that we go further and faster,” she told Tonight with Andrew Marr.
Baroness Ashton added: “I think the Prime Minister would probably agree with that because he's made quite a thing… about taking on the responsibility of defence spending.
“Fourteen years, he would argue, the previous government was not doing enough. But I think anyone really now considering it very deeply, would be saying, actually we need to come clean, this needs to go further and faster,” she told Andrew.