Britain's readiness for conflict has been laid bare with official figures showing that if conscription took place tomorrow there wouldn't even be enough basic protective equipment for everyone.

In January, Britain's former top NATO commander ignited debate by suggesting that it was time to "think the unthinkable" and consider introducing compulsory enrolment for service to prepare the country for any potential battle. While there is no immediate threat of war, the UK Government has been urged to bolster its defence capabilities in light of conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza and as the world is "moving from a post-war to pre-war world". 

The comments, from General Sir Richard Sherriff, made the possibility of being called up to fight feel closer than it has in generations. Conscription ended in the UK in 1960 having first been introduced in January 1916, 18 months into the First World War. It required all single men aged 18 to 41 to join.

Sir Richard told Sky News at the time: "Conscription to most professional soldiers, and I count myself as one, is absolute anathema. Britain's armed forces have traditionally and culturally relied on long service volunteer highly professional soldiers with huge experience - and that is really the way we would all want it to go on."

General Sir Patrick Sanders, the outgoing head of the British Army, added in January that if NATO went to war with Russia such a conflict would need to be a "whole-of-nation undertaking". Military analyst Professor Michael Clarke added to the Sky News Daily podcast that the UK will probably have to go back to having a "citizen army" - but stressed this is "not the same as conscription".

A spokesperson for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak later said there is "no suggestion of that" happening, but on 30 April iNews reported that a new blueprint for a volunteer army reserve involving ex-service personnel is being considered by defence chiefs. The proposal, the newspaper said, suggests recruiting an initial 20,000 former regular army and reservists and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) is being urged to take up the plan by army officials, as well as Lord Robertson, Secretary General of Nato and Defence Secretary under Tony Blair.

The ultimate aim of the proposal, iNews reported, would be a 200,000-strong force, which would be made up of willing recruits from the public who would only be activated in the event of a serious national security threat.

If the UK managed to bolster its numbers, the army would struggle to provide soldiers with the body armour and helmets they needed, figures released by the MoD to Byline Times under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act show.

In January it was suggested that conscription might need to be reintroduced to bolster the army's capabilities. Photo: Gerard Ferry / Alamy

The British Army currently has 8,364 sets of Osprey Body Armour and 130,933 sets of Virtus, which are used as body protection for soldiers. It has, official figures revealed, 178,451 Virtus helmets and 55,279 personal role radios. The MoD has delayed replying to further FOI requests by Byline Times to reveal other potential equipment shortfalls.

Dr Christopher Tuck, Reader in Strategic Studies at King's College, London told Byline Times that the question of whether these numbers would be enough depend on the intensity of any potential conflict.

“What is clear is that the UK lacks the military capability to fight a large-scale extended conventional war of attrition," he said. Spelling out exactly how underprepared the UK is, he added: “At the moment it lacks the numbers, equipment, reserves, and production capabilities to sustain such a fight.”

An MoD spokesperson told Byline Times that the Army has enough stock for its defence commitments. However, a Defence Select Committee Report from February noted that there are “capability shortfalls and stockpile shortages”. The report also noted the Army is losing personnel faster than they can replace them. 

The MoD's service personnel statistics from January 2024 revealed that 10,680 people had joined the regular Armed Forces, but 16,140 had left - reducing numbers by 5,460.

The Army represents 110,030 of the UK’s 183,130 total service personnel – both of which have dropped by 3.7% since the previous year.

Reports in January revealed that the British Army had shrunk from 100,000 in 2010 to around 73,000. General Sanders, speaking at that time, said within the next three years the army needed to be 120,000 strong with the addition of reserves. But even that, he said, wasn't enough.

Dr Tuck told Byline Times that the personnel and equipment issue was not "a new problem", explaining: “Even during the Cold War, there were doubts over the UK's abilities to sustain such a conflict, and there were great difficulties in creating even one fully capable armoured division for the Gulf War in 1991."

He said it was also not a problem specific to the UK, “even using virtually the whole of NATO's production capabilities, it has proven difficult to remedy Ukraine's capability and production shortfalls.”

Former MI6 chief Sir Alex Younger said last month that the UK should consider a “Swedish-style” conscription system – which sees relatively small numbers of adults called up for military training each year.

But Andrew Mumford, Professor of War Studies at Nottingham University, told Byline Times: “The problem is this discussion of conscription often gets conflated with examples drawn from other European countries – including the Scandinavian countries – where some form of national service is still manifest.

 “The key difference is that there are important historical reasons why that mode of national service has been maintained – and why they continue to do so given today’s threat environment.”

While Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine, launched on 24 February 2022, set off talks of possible conscription in the UK, Dr Tuck said the chances of a conflict between NATO and Russia are "probably low, given the struggles that Russia has exhibited in its war against Ukraine alone".

 “Despite the gradual escalation in NATO's commitment to support Ukraine, there seems no appetite on the part of Putin to respond with more than rhetoric and a continuation of hybrid activities," he explained.

While the UK Government has dismissed conscription being an option, Sunak has pledged to increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2030.

 A target of 2% of GDP for defence spending is extant for NATO member states, but many countries do not meet this target.

A MoD spokesperson added: “We have announced plans to spend 2.5% of GDP on defence by 2030 – meaning an additional £75 billion spent over the next six years, which will further support equipping our Armed Forces.

“We hold the requisite stock to supply and support our defence commitments, including as a leading NATO ally, as demonstrated by deploying 20,000 personnel to Exercise Steadfast Defender.”