UK working on plan not seen since the 1970s to prepare for war

Even though the war in Iran has temporarily paused for two weeks for a ceasefire, the UK government is busy updating plans.

There is a Government War Book, and officials are giving it the overhaul for the first time in decades.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton told Sky News about the new plans for the country if war were to break out.

He told Sky News that British people would need to think differently about resilience and what it means.

Knighton said the government and public would be drawing on lessons learned from the Cold War but 'in a modern context, with a modern society, with modern infrastructure'.

The previous war book was initially put together during World War I.

A copy from 1976 consists of hand-typed pages, bundled together with string, but details essential information about what to do with civilians and industry, shutting schools, hospitals, food rations and more.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton has talked about a Government War Book (Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publishing via Getty Images)

The war book system was shelved in the early 2000s following the Cold War, as it was reportedly too expensive to maintain.

He told the outlet that we need to 'think about how we build in that resilience as we renew it and that requires making some different choices and different priorities and that work that the Cabinet Office is doing across the whole of government is something that I really welcome.'

He said the peace the UK has experienced for the last few decades may be coming to an end, and cannot be taken for granted: "That requires us to educate ourselves and help the population understand some of those threats and help them understand what they can do to support the nation and potentially support the armed forces."

The biggest concern facing the powers that be is to get the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force back to a level where they are ready for any war, after a long period of underfunding.

It comes after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and defence secretary John Healey promised more funds.

Donald Trump's war on Iran has meant the government is taking another look at past war books and updating them (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

They say that spending on defence will increase to 3.5% of GDP from the current 2%, however, that won't be until 2035 - a long time away when Donald Trump has been starting wars in Iran and discussing leaving NATO.

Trump also hit out at the UK's aircraft carriers, calling them 'toys'.

Speaking at a press conference, he lashed out: “We had the UK say – this is three weeks ago – ‘we’ll send our aircraft carriers’, which aren’t the best aircraft carriers, by the way. They’re toys compared to what we have. But ‘we’ll send our aircraft carrier when the war is over’. I said: ‘Oh that’s wonderful, thank you very much. Don’t bother. We don’t need it.’

The long-discussed Defence Investment Plan is also yet to be released by the government, with Healey saying it was delayed from last summer.

This has caused issues, as the plan is designed to plot out spending for the armed forces over the next decade, and will detail what money can be spent on new weapons.

Knighton said the delay is because the Ministry of Defence is waiting for more money to be released from the Treasury.

He said: "What I want is a defence investment plan that is properly funded and delivers what we want, if that takes a bit longer, I'd rather have something that works and we can deliver."