Military thinktank predicts armed forces cuts

The British armed forces could be cut by a fifth due to insufficient funds, according to a military thinktank.

In a report by the Royal United Services Institute, the number of trained military personnel is predicted to fall from 175,000 to around 140,000 by 2016.

The report's author Professor Malcolm Chalmers, said cuts were "inevitable" because the state of the government's finances mean the Ministry of Defence's budget is probably going to fall by at least 11 per cent in real terms by 2017.

He added that the cost of troops and equipment is rising exacerbating the likeliness of defence cuts.

Prof Chalmers said the cuts would be made no matter which party wins the general election.

He claimed that the party in power would have to choose whether to endure the "political pain" of making the cuts all at once, or in "successive small doses".

He told the BBC that unless the Ministry of Defence was "ring-fenced" or protected, its budget would be cut by the amount indicated in the report.

Former Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell said that defence had "to take its share of the damage", to ensure that health and education remained the government's key priorities.

In response to the report, an MoD spokesman admitted that "like all departments, the Ministry of Defence is facing challenging financial circumstances".

He continued: "We routinely review spending to ensure we focus on Afghanistan and live within our means."

The chancellor Alistair Darling has said that the MoD budget will not be reduced at all next year.