LONDON: The British government said yesterday it was making up to 5,300 army personnel redundant as part of cuts that will see troop numbers brought to the lowest levels since the early 19th century.
The Ministry of Defense said soldiers returning from or heading to Afghanistan would be exempt from the cuts, the third such round under a program that will see the army reduced from 102,000 regular troops to 82,000 by 2020.
“Today the Army are announcing the fields from which they will select personnel to be made redundant in the third tranche of the program; this will comprise up to 5,300 Army Personnel,” Junior Defense Minister Mark Francois said.
But he insisted: “The redundancy program will not impact adversely on current operations in Afghanistan.”
Britain still has about 9,000 troops in Afghanistan ahead of a scheduled withdrawal in 2014.
The Conservative-led coalition government of Prime Minister David Cameron, which is trying to shrink Britain’s massive deficit, has already announced that reservist numbers will be doubled to 30,000 by 2018 to help fill the shortfall.
Britain’s navy and air force are also shedding 5,000 posts each under the Strategic Defense and Security Review announced in 2010, while the Ministry of Defense is losing 25,000 civilian jobs.
Francois warned that further army redundancies were “likely” along with job cuts among the medical and dental personnel working with the navy and air force.
The latest cuts have raised fresh concerns about Britain’s military capacity, a day after Cameron vowed to show “iron resolve” in fighting terrorism in the wake of the deadly hostage siege at a gas plant in Algeria.
But he said: “If you look at the defense and security budget, it is actually in cash terms stable at £ 33 billion ($ 52 billion, 39 billion euros).
“What we have tried to do as a government, and perhaps we need to look again and go even further, is to focus on those threats to our security we face today.”
Britain to ax up to 5,300 army jobs
