Ex-Catterick colonel ‘concerned’ that Sir Keir Starmer wants to limit defence spending to 2.5% of GDP

It will examine how to strengthen UK homeland security, bolster Ukraine in its fight against Russia, and modernise and maintain the nuclear deterrent.

The review will also set out a roadmap on how to reach Sir Keir’s target of spending 2.5 per cent of GDP – a measure of the size of the economy – on defence.

However security expert Philip Ingram MBE, who served in the army for more than 26 years and commanded troops at Catterick Garrison, criticised the Prime Minister for introducing a spending target for reviewers.

He told the Yorkshire Post: “A review is essential because you need to know your priorities, not just to spend your money on but where to put your effort in.

“There needs to be clear political direction in terms of what it is the government wants the military to do.

“It disappoints me that it says the upper limit is 2.5 per cent.

“If you take the boundaries off it completely, and let the panel with the Ministry of Defence look at things properly … then the answer might come back and be we have to spend more than 2.5 per cent of GDP given the way the threat is.

“Therefore I’m already feeling that it’s been bound politically and is not being given a true run at what Britain needs to provide.

“If you’re saying it’s got to be 2.5 per cent you might be kicking a lot of stuff off into the future … it’s a hard stop and that concerns me.”

Mr Ingram warned that the British military is in an “appallingly poor state”.

He cited cyber attacks and disinformation campaigns on our elections, the wars in Ukraine and Gaza and the expanding influence of China, as the key security threats.

“The government is inheriting a very, very, very unstable world,” he said.

“In over 40 years of analysing this sort of stuff, both in the military and outside the military, this is the first time I can see not just one, but two or three potential paths to a global conflict.”

Mr Ingram said he was also concerned that the review did include the security department of the Home Office.

“If you’re not looking at it from a holistic perspective, you’re going to have the potential for assumptions to be made,” he added.

Lord Robertson will be accompanied by General Sir Richard Barrons, the former Commander of the Joint Forces Command and former Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff, as well as former Donald Trump adviser Dr Fiona Hill.

Mr Ingram described the latter appointment as “a masterstroke because it’s future proofing whatever could happen in the US election”.

Speaking to reporters at the launch, Lord Robertson said the West faces a “deadly quartet” of Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.

He said the four states were “increasingly working together”.

Vladimir Putin has relied on supplies from the states to wage his war in Ukraine, with Iranian drones, North Korean munitions and Chinese components sustaining his ability to attack despite Western sanctions.