Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether it is still his policy to reduce the Army to 73,000 trained regulars as set out in his policy paper, Future Soldier: Transforming the British Army, published in November 2021.

There are currently no plans to reverse the decision to reduce the number of regular Army personnel.

The Integrated Review and Defence Command Paper made clear that we must focus on Defence capability rather than troop numbers in response to changing threats and priorities. The British Army will be a whole force of over 100,000 Regulars and Reservists which will be able to respond faster and more effectively, matched to both current and future threats.