“The UK has done a lot to castrate its military over the last 2 decades.”
UK has invested 2.7% of its GDP in its military consistently for decades.
Where did you get that figure? A quick sampling:
2016: 2.21% (by NATO’s definition, which is more generous than most other sources)
2024: 2.3% (NATO report)
2025: 2.4% (NATO report)
In any event, actual capability, outside of nukes, has gone into the toilet. The recent debacle where the UK struggled mightily to get a single missile defense destroyer to Cyprus (the other 5 of their top type were all laid up with bigger problems), and then a few days later it was back in port due to “problems”, was almost Monty Python worthy. Or should I bring up the UK’s ability (lack of) to provide, essentially, substantial “trip wire” forces / “peace monitor troops” for Ukraine?
Does the opinion of high ranking UK DOD officials count?
https://www.theglobalstatistics.com/defence-spending-statistics-in-uk/