Shared Responsibilities: A national security strategy for the UK

Read again: Keeping Britain secure in a world of complex threats

Article

This is the final report of the IPPR Commission on National Security in the 21st Century, an all-party Commission preparing an independent national security strategy for the United Kingdom. Based on research and commission deliberations over a two-year period, the report sets out a wide range of proposals designed to make our country and its citizens, businesses and communities more secure.

Our recommendations include:

  • A new approach to the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan
  • Proposals to improve the UK's energy security
  • Measures to address radicalisation and the threat of terrorism here in the UK
  • The call for a transformation in our approach to defence policy, and measures to strengthen both NATO and the European pillar of the transatlantic alliance
  • Measures to strengthen and improve the institutions handling security at the centre of government
  • Proposals for improved global governance
  • A call to strengthen and deepen the legitimacy of the security strategy we pursue.

Our report is a call to action. We face serious and worsening international security challenges but provided we are willing to learn lessons, to change the way we think, to find the necessary political will and to adapt our policy solutions and instruments to new circumstances, there is much that can be done. In the post-9/11, post-financial crisis world of complex threats and limited national resources, this report charts a safer course for the country in turbulent times.

Related items

  1. Doctor with patient for consultation, medical advice or procedure at clinic

    Taken to heart: Inequalities in heart disease in Scotland

    More than 7.6 million people across the UK live with cardiovascular disease (CVD), around twice as many as live with Alzheimer’s disease and cancer combined. 
  2. A beautiful sunset in the Scottish highlands with renewable energy wind turbines far into the horizon

    Skills passports: An essential part of a fair transition

    This month, government will publish its Clean Energy Workforce Strategy. This plan covers two aims. First, filling the growing demand for skills in clean energy industries is essential to keep on track to reach the government’s clean power…
  3. The Bank of England is watched over by a statue of the Duke of Wellington seated on his horse

    Fixing the leak: How to end the £22 billion annual taxpayer losses at the Bank of England

    The Bank of England increased its interest rates over recent years, aimed at reducing inflation. But this has also had an unintended effect on the Bank of England’s massive government bond buying – ‘quantitative easing’ – programme.