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Mr Hague echoed the calls from the head of the Army, General Sir Nick Carter, that the UK needs to maintain its heritage of providing some of the best defences in the world. The former foreign secretary explained that strong military forces are key to successful negotiations with the EU. He said: “It is important to remember that we are putting to sea our biggest ever aircraft carriers and a new fleet of formidable submarines along with a great deal of other new equipment. “This matters to the tortuous Brexit negotiations themselves.

GETTY Pressure to maintain the UK’s military strength is mounting for Theresa May

“Do we not want our neighbours, as they contemplate our departure from the EU, to place value on our vast contribution to the intelligence, diplomatic, and military resources of Europe collectively, and not to be under the impression that the importance of these assets to their own security is in decline?” The former foreign secretary emphasised the need to develop UK military forces to keep up with constantly advancing technologies and stated that Britain could be “useless” if it did not utilise artificial intelligence. He also wrote in The Telegraph: “Within a decade, artificial intelligence will be revolutionising warfare. “Without the best technology, a country will find that its radar is showing the previous day’s airspace, its GPS systems all pointing at the wrong targets, and incoming aircraft convincing defending computers that they are on the same side.

“Impressive hardware without up-to-the minute software will be as useless as cavalry against machine guns.” Mr Hague declared that by using a “tiny fraction” of Philip Hammond’s “£3billion contingency fund”, the UK could maintain its diplomatic positions in Asia and Africa. He went on: “The Foreign Office, now needing to strengthen embassies around Europe, is partly paying for that by reducing some diplomatic positions in Asia and Africa.

“With a tiny fraction of the £3billion pound contingency fund the Chancellor announced to deal with the uncertainties of Brexit, they could keep those positions in place. For nations, just like individuals, small signs of body language can make a big impact.” Pressure to maintain the UK’s military strength is mounting for Theresa May after Sir Nick Carter warned that Russia could radically outpace Britain’s armed forces as Vladimir Putin continues to improve his arsenal. Speaking at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), he emphasised the immediacy of the situation by declaring that the “threats” imposed by Russia need to be dealt with “now”.

EPA Sir Nick Carter warned that Russia could radically outpace Britain’s armed forces

He stated: “The threats we face are not thousands of miles away but are now on Europe's doorstep - we have seen how cyber warfare can be both waged on the battlefield and to disrupt normal people's lives - we in the UK are not immune from that. “The time to address these threats is now - we cannot afford to sit back." Theresa May appeared to heed the calls of the Army boss by admitting that she will maintain the UK as having the “biggest defence budget in Europe”.

Getty Mr Hague emphasised the need to develop UK military forces to keep up with advancing technologies