Menaced by Putin, betrayed by Trump – but this is Britain’s simple defence fix

Are we ready for war? Welcome to The i Paper’s opinion series in which our writers tackle a question that, until recently, few had thought to consider. • Britain is closer to nuclear war than you think. This is how it will unfold• The UK’s plan for civilians in a war is terrifying – you’re on your own• World War 3 is closer than you think. And still Britain is half asleep A quarter of the way into the 21st century, and the United Kingdom, when it comes to our defence and security, is in an unenviable position. To misquote Stealers Wheel, there’s a clown to the west of us, and a madman to the east. Amid the malevolence defining international relations, Britain is stuck in the middle – but not with the EU. What we need now, more than ever, is a defence union with our allies in Europe, including but not limited to member states, Ukraine, Norway and Iceland. When Russia’s embassy in London warned last month that Britain would face “consequences” for arming Ukraine, it was not talking about some distant reckoning. We should take their threats seriously because the attack on Britain is already happening. Nato’s Article 5 was conceived in an age of columns of armour crossing borders and it rests on an American guarantee that is no longer what it was. The EU has its own mutual assistance clause, but no Nato-equivalent command structure. Meanwhile, the country with more recent experience of fighting Russia than any other, Ukraine, sits outside Nato altogether, while partners Norway and Iceland sit outside the EU. There is a hole in our defences. This is where Britain can lead, and where the Burnham government must be bold. We must learn from – and build on – the Coalition of the Willing, and propose a new European defence and security union – a standing pact between the EU member states, Norway, Iceland, Ukraine and every other democracy living in Russia’s shadow. Open to like-minded nations across the world, it could be a first step to making CANZUK – the proposed alliance of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK – a reality. Its founding promise would be broader than Article 5, and sharper. An armed attack on one member would be an attack on all, but so would a major cyber assault, the sabotage of a power grid or hospital network, or the cutting of the cables and pipelines on the seabed. Each of those would trigger collective responses, from joint cyber retaliation to the physical protection of infrastructure. A permanent joint cyber command and a maritime force would be tasked with guarding the cables, wires and pipes our societies actually run on. The logic here is well-established. Christian Mölling and Torben Schütz of the European Policy Centre, have argued explicitly that Europe needs a “Plan B” for Nato and that the Europeanisation of the alliance is already settled in practice. What is missing is the structure. A defence and security union would not wait for all 32 Nato members, or all 27 EU governments, to reach agreement before defending a cable off the Cornish coast or a substation in Vilnius. Heck, Keir Starmer is looking for an international role, maybe this could be it. Critics will say this undermines Nato. It does the opposite. It is the insurance policy for the day the American guarantee is finally tested and found wanting. It Europeanises our defence without waiting for Brussels to rewrite its treaties, and it brings Ukraine inside a Western security framework, rather than leaving it in the waiting room while it holds the eastern flank. The second objection is that a post-Brexit Britain cannot lead a European club. But this union would sit outside the EU’s legal structures, meaning Brexit is no barrier. Our intelligence reach and international status make us the obvious convener rather than the awkward outsider. Burnham came into office promising to show Britain can regain its stability and keep faith with its allies. Here’s his chance. The laws of scale economies and comparative advantage mean our collective efforts would offer taxpayers far better value for money than the current series of bilateral deals. None of this is simple and any union like this would take time to build properly. But the threats are not waiting for us to be ready. The government should put a defence and security union on the table now, convene the first meeting, and dare our neighbours and allies to decline. Russia has already decided Britain is a target. The only question is whether we answer as one country hoping for the best, or as part of an alliance built for the war we are actually in.