LONDON—A review of Britain’s defense capabilities has been paused in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The Integrated Review was planned to be the largest and most far-reaching since the end of the Cold War. It was set to assess the UK’s foreign, defense, security and development policies in light of Britain’s departure from the European Union at the end of January. But in light of the COVID-19 outbreak, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson decided to pause the review in late March, citing the “significant international implications” of the pandemic. Details of the decision only emerged this week.
A small government team is continuing to work on the impact of COVID-19 to inform the review process when it restarts.
Tobias Ellwood, a member of Parliament and chairman of the UK’s Parliamentary Defense Committee, welcomed the review’s delay.
“There would be no point in conducting an in-depth review of the nation’s defense and security challenges to an artificial deadline, especially at a time when Whitehall is rightly focusing on tackling coronavirus,” Ellwood said.
Several defense think tanks had earlier called on the government to rethink proceeding with the review in light of COVID-19, describing plans to complete the review by the summer as “unrealistic.”
According to the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), the crisis could lead to an additional £1.9 billion ($2.37 billion) being allocated to the UK defense ministry, in light of new geopolitical alignments created by the pandemic.
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