𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of showing weakness on defence by prioritising funding for benefits claimants over funding for the armed forces amid a recruitment crisis. Shocking new figures reveal that Labour will take 13 years to deliver on its pledge to boost the UK’s reserve armed forces.

Labour’s Strategic Defence Review has committed to a 20% increase in the number of reservists, but has not set a hard deadline for when this would be done. The analysis shows that at the current recruitment rate, it would take 151 months – almost 13 years – for Labour to meet its own target.

Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge MP told the Daily Express: “With war raging in Ukraine and across the Middle East, strengthening our Armed Forces has never been more urgent, yet Labour’s approach risks putting welfare ahead of national security.” He accused Sir Keir of caving in to his backbenchers and prioritising “billions more for welfare instead of the MoD, not least by removing the two child benefit cap”.

Mr Cartlidge said the Conservatives would restore the cap and funnel the savings into the armed forces, bolstering the reserves by 14,000.

He blasted the Government’s plans, saying they “don’t match the scale or speed of the threat we face”, and demanded that if Labour “were serious about restoring our military strength, they would immediately drop their demoralising plans to reopen legacy lawfare against our veterans”.

The staggering revelation comes after the cross-party Public Accounts Committee found that “the Department does not currently have funding or a detailed plan” to deliver its commitments to increase the reserves. Putting up the number of reserves by 20% would require an extra 6,355 men and women to sign up.

But since the Strategic Defence Review, an average of just 42 additional reserves have been added each month – a rate that would take more than a decade to hit the target.

Former Cabinet minister Steve Barclay, who uncovered the figures, said: “There is a huge gap between what Labour say on defence and what they do.”

He added: “Boosting the Volunteer Reserve is one of the best value options available to strengthen our defences. But Labour aren’t even able to deliver on the modest promises they’ve made.”

Mr Barclay said Labour should be “going further and faster, with an ambitious plan to double the size of our volunteer Active Reserve within this parliament”.

The damning figures come as the UK faces a deepening recruitment crisis across all branches of the armed forces. Total UK Forces Personnel fell from 221,000 in April 2012 to 182,052 in January this year – a drop of nearly 39,000.

Over the same period, the number of people serving in the UK’s Regular Forces dropped from 179,804 to 136,957. The scale of the crisis can also be seen in Army recruitment figures, which are down 38% since 2019, although there has been a 12% uptick since last year.

The Henry Jackson Society, a think tank, points to statistics showing that no Army recruitment centre has hit its quota in the past five years. Now polls show that a significant proportion of young men would not be willing to fight for Britain.

Former Army Major Andrew Fox told the Daily Express it is a “tragedy” that young people today “don’t think the UK is worth fighting for”. He said: “For my whole life, joining the army was all I ever wanted to do. Every morning I pulled on my hard-earned maroon beret, I felt a foot taller and able to run through walls for my country. Being a paratrooper was an honour and a privilege.”

The crisis has been blamed on a combination of factors, one of which is a perceived lack of public support for the military. The recruitment struggles come at a time of mounting global threats, with Russia’s war in Ukraine showing no signs of ending and tensions rising in the Middle East following the conflict with Iran. Defence experts warn that Britain’s shrinking armed forces leave the country dangerously exposed at a time when adversaries are ramping up their military capabilities.

The criticism comes as the latest setback for Labour on defence, with the Government having yet to publish its long-awaited Defence Investment Plan. The plan, which was due to be released in December last year, is now several months late – prompting accusations that ministers do not have a coherent strategy for military spending.

An MoD spokesperson said: “We are incredibly proud of our reservists play a vital role across a wide range of military operations, whether here in the UK or overseas, and through the Strategic Defence Review we are committed to bolstering their strength.”

The spokesperson added: “Through our Armed Forces Bill, we are introducing reforms to modernise the Reserve Forces Act – including improving and building our digital infrastructure – and we are removing the barriers that prevent personnel moving from regular to reserve service.”

They said: “This is backed by the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War, investing over £270 billion in defence across this Parliament, ensuring no return to the hollowed out Armed Forces of the past.”