The British army did make use of tank destroyers; a total of 1,648 M10 tank destroyers were delivered to the UK via lend-lease, of which around 1,000 were converted to carry the 17-lb anti-tank gun in 1944-5. Tank destroyers weren't a part of British armoured doctrine: Royal Tank Regiment cruiser forces like 5 RTR instead relied on Sherman Fireflies at troop level to provide support fire against German heavy armour. Rather, M10s were distributed to the Royal Artillery, in theory to be used alongside static 25-lb batteries as a form of hammer-and-anvil tactic. In practice, the batteries were usually seconded to support Churchill tank forces like 9 RTR which did not include the Firefly in their ranks.

There were some British tank destroyers, in the loosest sense; the Cruiser Mk VIII (A30) Challenger stemmed from the attempt to fit a 17-lb anti-tank gun to the Cromwell tank. The resulting vehicle required a much larger turret, which was only lightly armoured in an attempt to reduce overall weight, and as such the tank was used to provide overwatch for the rest of its troop, usually from a concealed position. The Challenger was actually relatively popular with its crews despite its greater vulnerability, although its reputation took some time to grow from original poor impressions. Its common hull design meant that it could keep pace easily with Cromwells in its troop, redeploy quickly, and have a low hull silhouette, while the shared hull design made logistics and repairs more streamlined. The high turret actually granted it a higher degree of gun depression than the Firefly which was likewise useful in combat. Ultimately, however, delays in production and the greater ease of procurement and greater resilience of the Firefly meant that only some 200 were made.