British Army is set to be cut to just SIXTY THOUSAND soldiers - the lowest in 100 years - Mirror Online
Defence chiefs are thrashing out plans to further slash Britain’s army down to just 60,000 soldiers, it was claimed last night.
The shocking army cuts plans were revealed by former coalition defence minister Sir Nick Harvey who claimed they were in line with a “financial crunch” faced by the MoD.
Currently controversial plans to severely slash our army would reduce soldier numbers to a force of just 82,000 with the number of reservists rising to 30,000.
This will be the lowest staffing level for the British Army in more than 100 years.
But Sir Nick told MPs: “There are already paper exercises going on in looking at what an army of just 60,000 would look like because of the financial crunch that the department is going to be facing.”
The Liberal Democrat MP, speaking in the Commons, warned MPs that several areas of the UK’s military will be replaced in the coming years.
And he warned defence spending could drop towards 1.5% of national income - well below the current 2.2% which many feel is “endangering Britain’s security.”
Sir Nick also questioned why the renewal of the country’s Trident nuclear deterrent was receiving an “automatic bye”.
He claimed the cost of buying, operating and decommissioning new submarines for the Trident nuclear deterrent could cost more than £100billion over 30 years.
He said:“We know that the national deficit remains a serious problem.
“We do not hear from any of the political parties - not mine, nor anybody else’s - that defence is going to be insulated or protected from a tough comprehensive spending review later this year.
“If defence was to face another cut comparable to that which it took in 2010, which seems to me entirely possible, then the proportion of our gross domestic product that we are spending on defence - which is already destined to go below 2% next year - will make rapid headway towards 1.5% of GDP.
“And yet we know that on the table for discussion this summer in the (strategic defence and security review) is a whole series of big procurement projects.”
He hinted that the future of our new aircraft carriers and surveillance for warfare could be in jeopardy.
He said: “The two new aircraft carrier are due to have Joint Strike Fighter aircraft flying off them, we don’t know how much the unit cost of those is going to be, we don’t know how many we’re going to be able to afford to have.
“The Type 26 frigate is due to be built in the next few years, again it’s very difficult to know what all of that is going to cost us.
“We need more helicopters, we need more Istar (intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance) assets..."
A senior defence source said: “What this government is doing in cutting troops numbers and military is endangering our security.
“This is at a time when Islamic State is running riot in the Middle East, launching attacks of the type we have seen in Paris and in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Crimea.
“We are facing a dire terror threat on an horrific scale and a possible new Cold War as well.”
Defence chiefs are thrashing out plans to further slash Britain’s army down to just 60,000 soldiers, it was claimed last night.
The shocking army cuts plans were revealed by former coalition defence minister Sir Nick Harvey who claimed they were in line with a “financial crunch” faced by the MoD.
Currently controversial plans to severely slash our army would reduce soldier numbers to a force of just 82,000 with the number of reservists rising to 30,000.
This will be the lowest staffing level for the British Army in more than 100 years.
But Sir Nick told MPs: “There are already paper exercises going on in looking at what an army of just 60,000 would look like because of the financial crunch that the department is going to be facing.”
The Liberal Democrat MP, speaking in the Commons, warned MPs that several areas of the UK’s military will be replaced in the coming years.
And he warned defence spending could drop towards 1.5% of national income - well below the current 2.2% which many feel is “endangering Britain’s security.”
Sir Nick also questioned why the renewal of the country’s Trident nuclear deterrent was receiving an “automatic bye”.
He claimed the cost of buying, operating and decommissioning new submarines for the Trident nuclear deterrent could cost more than £100billion over 30 years.
He said:“We know that the national deficit remains a serious problem.
“We do not hear from any of the political parties - not mine, nor anybody else’s - that defence is going to be insulated or protected from a tough comprehensive spending review later this year.
“If defence was to face another cut comparable to that which it took in 2010, which seems to me entirely possible, then the proportion of our gross domestic product that we are spending on defence - which is already destined to go below 2% next year - will make rapid headway towards 1.5% of GDP.
“And yet we know that on the table for discussion this summer in the (strategic defence and security review) is a whole series of big procurement projects.”
He hinted that the future of our new aircraft carriers and surveillance for warfare could be in jeopardy.
He said: “The two new aircraft carrier are due to have Joint Strike Fighter aircraft flying off them, we don’t know how much the unit cost of those is going to be, we don’t know how many we’re going to be able to afford to have.
“The Type 26 frigate is due to be built in the next few years, again it’s very difficult to know what all of that is going to cost us.
“We need more helicopters, we need more Istar (intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance) assets..."
A senior defence source said: “What this government is doing in cutting troops numbers and military is endangering our security.
“This is at a time when Islamic State is running riot in the Middle East, launching attacks of the type we have seen in Paris and in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Crimea.
“We are facing a dire terror threat on an horrific scale and a possible new Cold War as well.”