Committee warns of ‘gap in capabilities if reservists not hired faster’
Proposals to reduce the headcount of the Armed Forces by a fifth will leave Britain without adequate defences, according to a scathing report by a cross-party committee of MPs.
The committee, which looked at proposals to chop headcount from 102,000 regular servicemen and women to 82,000 by 2018, argued the reduction plans have not been sufficiently thought-through.
It concluded: “We have considerable doubts about how the plan was developed and tested, and whether it meets the needs of national security.”
The committee was particularly critical of plans to increase the proportion of the Armed Forces made up from reservists, and even questioned whether enough reservists could be recruited in time.
Currently there are 24,000 reservists on top of the total number of Armed Forces personnel (102,000), but by 2018 the plan is to have around 100,000 in total, more than a quarter of which (30,000) will be reservists. However, reservist numbers have been steadily falling in number, with a report last November confirming that numbers last quarter alone dropped by 1,630.
The committee said that if military reservists in particular could not be hired faster “there is a danger of a gap emerging in the Army’s required capabilities and real fighting power”.
Commenting on the report, Labour’s shadow secretary Vernon Croaker called its findings a “damning verdict”. Labour already argues the Armed Forces is 8,000 people below what it needs to be.
However it is expected that the report is unlikely to change the trajectory of the cuts. Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said reductions were needed to produce a “flexible and agile force”. Responding directly to the report, he said has the committee has failed to recognise newer national security threats – such as cyber attacks – that do not need troops on the ground, or personnel in the air or sea.
He said: “It’s is not possible to maintain traditional regular forces at historic levels while investing in countering the threats of tomorrow.”
If current measures continue to go ahead the Army’s numbers will fall from 102,260 regulars and 24,110 reservists to 82,000 regulars and 30,000 reservists; the Navy will shrink from its current 35,500 regulars and 2,630 reservists to 30,000 regulars and 3,1000 reservists, while the RAF (today 40,130 regulars and 1,340 reservists) reduces to 35,000 regulars and 1,800 reservists.
The report said: “We remain to be convinced…We are concerned [cuts] took primacy over the country’s abilities to respond to the threats, risks, and uncertainties contained in the National Security Strategy.”