Thousands of troops to be cut in Britain

BRITAIN is to shrink its armed forces and scrap its flagship aircraft carrier, Prime Minister David Cameron said yesterday.

Wed, 20 Oct, 2010 - 01:00

Katherine Haddon London

The defence review comes as part of stinging overall cuts planed by the coalition government.

Cameron told the House of Commons that by 2015, army numbers would be cut by 7,000 to 95,500; the navy would fall 5,000 to 30,000 and the Royal Air Force would decrease by 5,000 to 33,000.

As part of 8% cuts to the Ministry of Defence’s budget, the flagship HMS Ark Royal aircraft carrier is also being scrapped immediately, along with Britain’s fleet of Harrier jets.

But Cameron vowed there would be “no cut whatsoever” to the level of support for forces fighting in Afghanistan.

“Britain has traditionally punched above its weight in the world and we should have no less ambition for our country in the decades to come,” Cameron said.

“But we need to be more thoughtful, more strategic, and more coordinated in the way we advance our interests and protect our national security and that is what this review sets out to achieve.”

A decision on renewing the Trident nuclear deterrent is delayed until 2016, although Cameron stressed he wanted to “renew” it.

The news came ahead of a sweeping programme of wider reductions of up to 25% in most government departments which will be unveiled in a comprehensive spending review today.

Cameron’s coalition government, which took power in May, is battling to reduce public sector borrowing from £149 billion (€170bn) to £20bn billion by 2015-16.

Other major defence cuts include scrapping a programme to build Nimrod reconnaissance planes and saying that fewer frigates and destroyers will be built.

The decision to axe Ark Royal earlier than the 2014 date originally planned will leave Britain without an aircraft carrier capable of launching jets for around a decade.

It will be 2020 before two new aircraft carriers — which are going ahead in part because it would be more expensive to scrap pre-agreed contracts than to go ahead with them — can be used for this purpose.

News of the cuts prompted US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to question their possible impact on NATO.

Cameron called President Barack Obama late on Monday to discuss the defence review, reassuring him that Britain would remain a “first-rate military power and a robust ally of the United States”.