Warning of economic war

The eurozone crisis now means that the biggest strategic risk facing the United Kingdom is economic rather than military, the head of the British armed forces said yesterday.

General Sir David Richards, Chief of the Defence Staff, said Britain’s main effort must be the economy, as “no country can defend itself if bankrupt”.

Gen Richards said: “I am clear that the single biggest strategic risk facing the UK today is economic rather than military.

“Over time a thriving economy must be the central ingredient in any UK grand strategy. This is why the eurozone crisis is of such huge importance not just to the City of London but rightly to the whole country, and to military planners like me.

“The country’s main effort must be the economy. No country can defend itself if bankrupt.”

Gen Richards added that the Strategic Defence and Security Review had “rebalanced” defence and security for the next decade, and would leave the UK a “powerful relative to our allies”.