Armed forces face loss of 43,000 personnel, think-tank warns

Britain’s armed forces will be forced to accept £35bn of budget cuts in the next decade and the loss of at least 15,000 troops under even the most benign fiscal scenario, a new report warns.

Unless there are significant tax increases or greater government borrowing, the military will face a bleak future, with the loss of about 30,000 military personnel, 13,000 civilian staff and the cancellation of significant equipment projects that could force the closure of shipyards on the Clyde or an end to the British aircraft industry.

In a paper published on Monday by the Royal United Services Institute, the country’s foremost military think-tank, the scale of the financial constraints facing the Ministry of Defence are laid bare for the first time.

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