May rejects drastic defence cuts drawn up by chiefs
Prime Minister warned up to 50 Tory MPS will rebel against ‘horrific’ moves to reduce the Armed Forces
THERESA MAY personally rejected military chiefs’ “horrific” proposals for cuts to deal with the defence budget’s black hole, it has been disclosed, as she was last night warned of a Tory rebellion unless she fixes the Armed Forces’ funding crisis.
The cost-cutting options were proposed as the Ministry of Defence tries to find £20 billion of savings amid a wider Whitehall security review that would have meant up to 11,000 personnel being axed from the Army with 2,000 cut from the Royal Marines.
The leaked proposals, described as “horrific” and “ugly, ugly and ugly”, were blocked before Christmas by Gavin Williamson the new Defence Secretary, and Mrs May, who both decided they were politically unacceptable. But defence sources and MPS warned that the three suggested packages of cuts laid bare the scale of possible reductions facing the forces unless more money is found.
The three proposals included cutting up to seven Royal Navy frigates and as many as 100 helicopters, and merging parts of 3 Commando Brigade and 16 Air Assault Brigade. The security capability review led by Mark Sedwill, the National Security Adviser, had been due to report before Christmas. Mr Williamson is understood to have won more time as he tries to persuade the Treasury that defence needs up to £2billion a year to deal with growing threats and rising equipment costs.
The Government is expected to announce as early as next week that the defence part of the review will now be postponed until later in the year.
One Whitehall source said: “He [Mr Williamson] said, ‘there’s no way I’m doing any of these things, we need to think again’. He’s won a bit of breathing space, but it’s only a baby step.”
Downing Street yesterday dismissed the proposed cuts as speculation, though officials have launched an extensive leak hunt inside the Ministry of Defence. The Prime Minister’s spokesman said the Government was “committed to maintaining the overall size of the Armed Forces”. But MPS said that without money, No 10’s assurances “don’t mean anything”.
Johnny Mercer, the Tory MP and former Army captain, said there were up to 50 MPS in the Commons who were prepared to fight against cuts.
He told The Daily Telegraph: “I have a cohort of MPS who are not prepared to see these proposals go through. There will be a lot of business that the Government wants to get through that requires a full turnout of Tory MPS. A number of us would be prepared to stop that unless defence is sorted out. It’s not about threats or rebellions. We are the party of defence and it’s about making that a reality again.”
Julian Lewis, the Tory MP and chairman of the Commons defence committee, said: “The fact that these options have to be put shows how grotesquely underfunded defence has become.”
Decades of cutbacks have already left the Armed Forces not fit for purpose and at risk of “institutional failure” say critics. Gen Sir Richard Barrons, the head of Joint Forces Command until 2016, told MPS before Christmas that the defence establishment was “close to breaking” and without more money “will fall over”.