Is Britain braced for the Russian threat from the north?

War in Ukraine, and the arrival of Donald Trump in the White House, is forcing Europeans to prioritise defence. Keir Starmer has slashed Britain’s aid budget to pay for an increase in defence spending to 2.5 per cent of national income by 2027. But how should the UK use that uplift in order to keep itself safe?

The challenge posed by the Northern Fleet is – alongside Norway – essentially the UK’s problem to deal with

Many of the core assumptions which have underpinned British strategy for decades are being called into question. Amid the discussions centred on what a ‘Nato first’ policy for the UK looks like, there is growing consensus that Britain requires improved air and missile defences.

The missile capabilities of adversaries have grown considerably over the last decade, with Beijing, Moscow, and Tehran expanding their existing arsenals and developing new hypersonic and ballistic missiles. The most pressing of these threats to the UK rhymes with history; that of Russia’s Northern Fleet, a familiar foe from the Cold War.