MP: There is an enduring need for soldiers
Yesterday the Secretary of State for Defence, Rt Hon Ben Wallace MP, gave a Statement to launch the Defence Command Paper. This will boost defence spending to over £50 billion a year, the largest increase in defence spending since the Cold War. However, this will also see the number of tanks fall to about 150, and the Army will fall to just over 70,000 personnel. Having announced his intention to leave the Government at the forthcoming reshuffle, this was one of his last appearances as Defence Secretary at the Despatch Box.
In the Chamber, John asked,
“I commend my right hon. Friend for his service and dedication as Secretary of State, and I wish him well for the future.”
“As a fellow infantryman, he will know there is sometimes no substitute for ‘boots on the ground’ if one wants to command that ground. Given that the 1922 Defence Committee submitted a paper to the Defence Command Paper refresh expressing concern about hollowing out, can he assure us that this hollowing out will stop and that cuts to the Army, in particular, will stop?...Ultimately, an Army of 72,000 and falling is simply not large enough given our commitments.”
The Defence Secretary responded that, regardless of the size of the Army, it was important to ensure that soldiers in the field are properly equipped and enabled. He continued that a bigger Army would require a bigger defence budget, but also highlighted that Ukraine has shown that a mixture of cheap unmanned drones and artillery mean that fewer soldiers are needed to dominate the ground. He thanked John for his response to the consultation and said many of his ideas had been incorporated.
John said afterwards,
“Ben Wallace has been a first-class Defence Secretary, and he will be a loss to the Government when he leaves it. However no-one is irreplaceable, and there are other good candidates to step into his shoes.”
“Whilst I share the Defence Secretary’s analysis that there is no point in having soldiers if you do not equip them properly, I continue to have concerns that the Army is shrinking too much. Even on today’s battlefield, where technology is changing the way armies fight, there is an enduring need for soldiers to close with, and kill, the enemy – as the Ukrainians are proving in their counter-offensive. Technology can only achieve so much.”
