20,000 troops face the axe in massive security cutbacks
SECURITY bosses could cut the Army by nearly 20,000 troops and slash the Royal Marines as part of the Government’s latest defence and security spending review.
In the worst-case scenario, the RAF would shut several airbases, the Royal Marines commando brigade would be split up and the RAF would shed its fleet of Hercules transport planes and Puma helicopters.
Army manpower would also tumble from 74,000 to 55,000.
The proposed plans have been drawn up as the Treasury demands that Whitehall makes spending cuts of at least five per cent.
Potential cuts to key defence areas that then do not occur are known as “shroud-waving” in Whitehall, and are common in defence reviews.
But security sources said that Dominic Cummings, the Prime Minister’s top aide, is supportive of reducing the size of the Army and redirecting funding into cyberwarfare, space and artificial intelligence.
Disaster
Last week Mr Cummings successfully spearheaded the Government’s latest plan to spend £400million on a 45 per cent stake in the failed satellite firm OneWeb as part of a plan to replace use of the EU’s Galileo sat-nav system.
Last year the Conservative manifesto pledged to spend at least two per cent of the nation’s GDP on defence.
The Government also planned to increase the budget by at least 0.5 per cent above inflation every year but the coronavirus crisis has slashed GDP which could ultimately lead to cuts.
Mr Cummings met with service chiefs last month, when sources said the “personal chemistry” was “a disaster”.
A Downing Street spokesman said: “It is false to say No 10 plans to cut defence. We will fulfil our manifesto commitments, including to increase the defence budget above inflation.
“We do not recognise the accounts of the alleged meetings.” Meanwhile, Whitehall officials said Sir Mark Sedwill’s departure as Cabinet Secretary and national security adviser last week would pave the way for Mr Cummings to lead the defence review.
Boris Johnson appointed his chief Brexit negotiator David Frost as the new national security adviser but he will not take up the role until autumn.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace met with service chiefs last week to discuss the Ministry of Defence’s approach to the review.
Two sources suggested the head of the Army, General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, was open to losing manpower, offset by the introduction of robot vehicles and artificial intelligence.
But the sources said this was opposed by Mr Wallace and General Sir Nick Carter, the Chief of the Defence Staff, who wanted to keep Army numbers at around 72,000.