David Cameron scales down defence cuts

The national defence budget has been finalised after a personal intervention by the Prime Minister. The final settlement puts the cuts to the Ministry of Defence's £37bn a year budget at around 7-8%. This is significantly lower than the 10% cut favoured by the Treasury. Military chiefs said that drastic cuts would damage the front line in Afghanistan, something David Cameron has made clear he is not prepared to do.
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Defence secretary Liam Fox, who has fought fiercely for his department, appears to have won this particular battle with the Treasury. Hillary Clinton's comments earlier this week, in which she expressed concern about the expected defence cuts, could have added pressure on the coalition.
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A senior Downing Street source has revealed that the comprehensive spending review will not outline any substantial cuts to the number of Army personnel. The source added that £750m is to be saved over four years on Trident, although there is uncertainty about how such savings would be made.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Michael Clarke, of the Royal United Services Institute think tank, said Army numbers had to be cut. But that would not happen before 2015, when a withdrawal from Afghanistan would be under way, he said. Mr Clarke described the defence cuts as a "bellwether" for NATO, which would be watching closely to see where the axe fell.

On the same programme, former First Sea Lord Admiral Lord West said: "Politically, I can understand how the government finds it difficult to cut Army numbers when our soldiers are dying in Afghanistan." He said that "strategically it would make sense" to cut numbers by 20,000.

Both of the planned aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, will be built - but the Royal Navy stands to lose a significant portion of its surface fleet, while the order for the joint strike fighters for the carriers will be scaled down substantially.

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