A senior defence analyst has warned Labour a reported decision to further slash the size of Britain’s Army shows that whoever makes that call “knows nothing about UK defence or UK history”.
A Strategic Defence Review is currently being carried out into the nation’s armed forces as war rages in both the Ukraine and the Middle East.
The review is expected to report back to the Prime Minister, the Chancellor and the Defence Secretary with recommendations in the first half of 2025.
In her Budget Chancellor Rachel Reeves promised an extra £3 billion cash for the armed forces as a whole but stopped short of putting a timescale on 2.5% of GDP spending on defence promised in Labour’s manifesto.
Britain’s fully-trained ground troops number around 75,300 as of the latest figures in April 2024, the number is lower than the Ministry of Defence’s own estimate of 80,000 British soldiers who fought Napoleon in the 19th century.
Defence analyst Nicholas Drummond has now revealed a source told him the British Army could get even smaller. Sharing the news on X, he wrote: “A source tells me that one UK Strategic Defence Review option being considered is to reduce British Army headcount to 63,000 to provide extra funding for the Royal Navy and RAF.
“Whoever has suggested this clearly knows nothing about UK defence or UK history.”
Worryingly Labour’s own Defence Secretary John Healey has admitted the UK’s fighting forces are not “ready to fight” a war.
Mr Healey told Politico that the UK had become “very skilled and ready to conduct military operations”, but needed to be “ready to fight” in order to deter other nations.
When asked about comments by the head of the Army, General Sir Roly Walker, that the UK must be ready to fight a war in three years, Mr Healey said: “The UK, in keeping with many other nations, has essentially become very skilled and ready to conduct military operations.
“What we’ve not been ready to do is to fight. And unless we are ready to fight, we are not in a shape to deter.”
He added that this was “at the heart” of thinking within Nato.
The Defence Secretary told Politico’s Power Play podcast: “We’ve got to not just be capable of defending our Nato nations, but more importantly, got to be more effective in the deterrence that we can provide against any future aggression.
“Our forces need to be able to innovate. We need to be able to take the new technologies and some of the lessons from Ukraine and make what we do more lethal and therefore a stronger deterrence.”
Last month the UK and Germany signed a defence pact with the aim of closer cooperation in the face of a growing threat from Russia.
Under the agreement, German submarine-hunting planes will operate from RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland and arms giant Rheinmetall is set to open a factory producing artillery gun barrels using British steel.
A Government spokesperson said: “This government will always do what’s required to defend the country. The UK’s armed forces are amongst the best in the world and offer a 24/7 defence of the UK – operating alongside our Allies and partners to prepare for any event.
“The Strategic Defence Review will look at the threats we face and the capabilities we need so that our armed forces are better ready to fight, more integrated and more innovative.”
