WATCH: Government plan to cut troop numbers “embarrassing”, Healey says

John Healey has described plans to cut nearly 10,000 troops from the British army as “embarrassing” and urged the government to “reboot” its defence planning.

Speaking to Sky News this morning, the Shadow Defence Secretary said: “The frustration for me in coming out of Madrid is this, that at the time when, you’ve just reported, NATO’s planning an extra 300,000 combat-ready troops, we in Britain are set to cut over the next three years another 10,000 soldiers from the British army.

“Now, this is embarrassing. It’s not responding to the growing threats we face, and it is putting into question Britain’s ability to fulfil our NATO obligations when I want Britain to continue to be the leading European nation within NATO.”

Healey highlighted that Ben Wallace has only been able to commit an extra 1,000 troops towards NATO’s goal of 300,000 additional soldiers and noted that those troops “might not even be based on the border with Russia, but back in Britain”.

The Labour frontbencher declared: “I want to see the government do what 14 other countries have already done since the invasion started, which is reboot our defence planning, review defence spending and reform the massive waste that goes on in military procurement.”

He argued that the government’s failure to reevaluate its defence policy has resulted in the UK “lagging behind”. The Labour Party highlighted today that full-time trade-trained army strength has fallen by more than 20,000 under the Conservatives, from more than 100,000 in 2010 to 77,190 in 2022.

Research by Labour published in January found that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) had wasted at least £13bn of taxpayers’ money since 2010, with £4.8bn spent on cancelled contracts, £5.6bn invested in overspent projects and a further £2.6bn simply written off.

A total of £4bn has been wasted during Ben Wallace’s time as Defence Secretary – though he only took up the role in July 2019. Commenting at the time, Healey said the findings show that “the MoD is a uniquely failing department” and that “ministers are failing British troops and British taxpayers”.