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.

As of April 1 this year, there was 79,006 full-time trained personnel in the army, compared to 82,216 in April 2015 and 98,600 in April 2012.

Defence Committee Chair Tobia Ellwood said in a statement that it’s extremely concerning to many“ that the UK will have ”the smallest Army since the seventeen hundreds.”

“We need more personnel, not less, and relying on veterans and reserve forces is no substitute for a regular, professional Force,” he said.

Labour MP Stephen Doughty said the numbers “are simply not there to deliver on that diversity and range of threats.”

Mr. Wallace responded by saying he does think an army of “73,000 is enough to meet today’s threat.”

Responding to similar concerns raised by Conservative MP John Baron, Mr. Wallace said what’s “really important” is “we have to make sure that whatever we put in the field is properly equipped and enabled, and is effectively 360 degrees.

“We therefore have to be honest about the size of our defence budget envelope. There is no point pretending that we can have huge numbers without a defence budget to match,” he said.

Mr. Wallace also said that lessons from Ukraine show that the use of cheap drones and highly accurate artillery meant Ukraine could “allow fewer people to cover or dominate more area.”

Munitions Spending

Though critical of the downsizing of Army troops, Mr. Ellwood praised other aspects of the command paper for its “commendable ambition.”