During a Defence Committee session, David Williams, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Defence, addressed concerns raised by Emma Lewell-Buck MP about potential troop reductions.
The question followed comments attributed to Lord Robertson, who is leading the Strategic Defence Review (SDR), suggesting that 20,000 troops might need to be cut if defence spending is not increased or aircraft carriers are not scrapped.
Williams dismissed the speculation, stating: “I’ve seen the reporting. I think when Lord Robertson was in front of this committee a couple of weeks ago, he made a point that he wasn’t yet at the position where he was making recommendations, and so I’d rather wait and see what recommendations the externally led review makes for us, rather than picking up on press reporting.”
When pressed by Lewell-Buck about the accuracy or likelihood of such cuts, Williams expressed skepticism: “I would be surprised, given the importance that the current government has attached to recruitment and retention of Armed Forces personnel, if we were likely to get recommendations to reduce the number of Armed Forces personnel.”
With government and mod stranger things have happened. I sincerely hope we get an increase in funding but i am not expecting much.
It’s the usual pre SDSR game plan. Leak news of major cuts to soften the blow when less major ones happen. It happens every time.
The government’s priority is foreigners.
It absolutely is not. Care to share your homework?
Wait until the next firemen’s or dustbin men’s strike.
With no squaddies left who else will they have to wake up?
Cuts, cuts and more cuts, ministry of cuts, with russian agressión and chinese expansion the goal of this and previous governments is to leave Britain unarmed, traitors.
Agree with you there.
Since the 50/60’s, it’s always been CUTS CUTS CUTS
I see the government has bought back housing, its good move for some reasons but essentially they have lied(covered up) or not understood the real costs. Its cost 6 billion to save 230m per year. But because we live in debt as country the 6 billion is borrowed at market rates, lets use 4% as rough guide(bonds are currently 4.35%) so that’s 240m in interest so 10m more than it currently costs in rent and as there no plan to pay down debt that interest payment is just sat there. So they have not saved the tax payer anything just move rent payment to a debt payment instead and cost the taxpayer 10m more until bond rates reduce
If the comment is accurately attributed, Robertson may just be highlighting the extent of a potential shortfall. Cutting 20,000 troops or mothballing/ selling the carriers are about the only things that would deliver big savings( nuclear would but has already got guaranteed funding).
I suspect his report is going to put real pressure on the government to increase funding sooner rather than later.
What other budgets get cut to provide the money is unclear. Obvious and popular targets would be foreign aid, including benefits for migrants, funding of green projects overseas and the subsidy to renewable energy here.
The 3 R’s= Repatriate, Reinforce the borders and Reject the ECHR.
Blair was threatening to do that in the early 2000’s, I can still see his face on TV uttering those words. “We might have to withdraw from the ECHR”
Empty words, like all politicians.
To succeed in blogging, it’s essential to create an engaging profile that reflects your personality with an attractive visual appeal. Photo editing plays a crucial role in boosting confidence, and many people enjoy capturing moments with their Android devices, emphasizing the need for reliable photo editing tools. To meet this demand, Adobe, a leading software company, developed Lightroom—an app that combines a high-quality camera with powerful photo editing features, tailored to enhance the user experience.
I don’t think his purported comments mean cuts, I think they are to create pressure – this Govt can not cut troop numbers or the carriers, this is putting pressure on the Govt to increase Defence spending. They’ll be reports from US Generals soon…
So, the carriers are going…
It seems to be a blunt and straight forward statement by Lord Robertson: unless the UK defence budget is increased then in order to make the SDR numbers add up the PM will have to make a decision between:
1. Cutting the British Army by 20,000 troops (and thus also avoid buying a lot of new equipment)
or
2. Scrapping the Royal Navy’s aircraft carriers (and all the associated projects such as the extra 24 F-35B’s, the 3 FSS Ships, CrowsNest replacement)
Notably the RAF seems to be off the hook – the potential third of option cancelling GCAP/Tempest appears to have already been ruled out.
If option 1 is unacceptable, then it looks bleak for the RN given the refusal by Starmer and Reeves to even hint of any upwards flexibility on funding, baring a meaningless commitment to 2.5% eventually. RUSI calculated after the Budget Statement that the 2025/26 UK defence budget was set to be 0.1% higher in real terms than 2024/25, but that assumed 2% inflation – it’s currently 2.6%