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Defence in the United Kingdom

We made it clear that we were going to find savings of £2.7 billion, which we were going to transfer to front-line capability, but this debate is about the armed forces as they are today. I want to make it clear that the Minister of State’s description of the armed forces as buoyant does not match the reality. Let us look at the effects of what has happened. Since 1997, the Army has lost 9,000 personnel, the Royal Navy has lost 10,000 and the RAF has lost 16,000. The MOD’s own ““Key Defence Messages”” state that by April 2008 Army strength will be cut to 101,800, Royal Navy strength to 36,250, and RAF strength to 40,800. The manpower figures are coming down and no amount of rhetoric from the Minister of State can disguise that.