PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Army: Employment (12 April 2021)

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on the UK's security of the decision to reduce the number of troops in the Army; and if he will make that decision subject to a vote in the House.

Asked by:
Charlotte Nichols (Labour)

The protection of our people, homeland, and democracy is the first duty of any government and so we are investing over £24 billion to reform and renew our Armed Forces for this age of global and systemic competition, modernising and integrating our forces across sea, land, air, space, and cyberspace like never before.

In an era of robotics and artificial intelligence, we need to stop thinking about the strength of the Army simply in terms of numbers and focus on how successfully it can achieve what we ask of it. We have therefore designed a force that is more balanced, and ultimately more effectively matched to the threat, now and in the future. The Army will be better connected, faster, and pound-for-pound more lethal than ever before. It will be integrated across domains, with allies in NATO, and beyond.

Answered by:
James Heappey (Conservative)
16 April 2021