Royal Navy: Defence minister bemoans lack of frigates and destroyers amid Red Sea tensions

The Earl of Minto told peers that “everybody knows” that the UK navy’s current number of frigates and destroyers is too small. The former Paperchase chief executive, who began serving as a defence minister in November, was taking questions about allegations of historical misconduct within the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, known informally as the Red Arrows, when he made the comment.

Labour peer Lord West of Spithead, a former first sea lord and chief of naval staff, told the upper chamber of Parliament: “45 years ago I did the study into whether women should serve at sea in the Royal Navy, and I said they should, and I think it has worked in fact very, very well, although there were often people against it at the time.

"When I did that we had 55 destroyers and frigates, we now have 16. Does the minister feel that that is too few?” The Earl of Minto responded: “Yes, I do think that is too few. I think everybody knows that. But however many frigates and destroyers we have, the level of unacceptable behaviour must finish.”

The minister’s comments come two weeks after a major speech by his boss Grant Shapps, in which the Defence Secretary warned of a move from a “post-war world” into a “pre-war world” and made the case for increasing defence spending. The Government has, in recent weeks, faced pressure not to mothball two Navy assault ships ahead of time, with newspaper reports suggesting ministers thought this could free up sailors for other vessels.

Last week, Foreign Office minister Andrew Mitchell assured MPs that HMS Albion and Bulwark would remain in service until their planned retirement dates in the mid-2030s. Elsewhere in the Lords, the Earl of Minto told peers he continued “to give the commitment that all the forces are absolutely determined to drive out unacceptable sexual behaviour” as he responded to questions about allegations of misconduct within the Red Arrows. A report last year found a “hostile, degrading and humiliating” environment within the Red Arrows and said women were plied with alcohol, treated like property and harassed for sex.

Royal Navy and merchant vessels have continued to be the targets of drone attacks by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.