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. The sign for the Ministry of Defence by the building's main entrance

    Joining forces: A better strategy for defence spending with allies

    Andy Burnham has made the case that national security and rebuilding Britain’s hard power will be priorities for his government. 
  2. Adults standing in a circle and talking to each other about their mental wellbeing. There is a staff member sitting to the left of them in the frame sitting next to a table. The community centre is located in Seaton Deleval in the North East of England.

    What is the left for?: The case for a politics of reciprocism

    Liberal democratic capitalism has failed to give many people good lives, and the future looks less promising than the past. 

  3. Wildfires and climate change | Dave Hawkey from IPPR Scotland speaks to Lewis Goodall on LBC

    Europe’s heatwaves and the wildfires in the Cairngorms are a stark reminder that climate extremes are here.  The Scottish government must act now with a clear plan to prepare for what's coming.