Ben Wallace Defends Plan to Cut Army Size

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace speaks during the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change's Future of Britain Conference in central London on July 18, 2023. Stefan Rousseau/PA

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace defended plans to cut the number of troops as he announced an updated plan for the military on Tuesday.

The Defence White Paper (pdf) confirmed that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) will press ahead with a previously announced plan to reduce the size of the regular army to around 73,000 troops and grow the strength of the Army Reserve to 30,100.