British Army still faces yawning recruitment gap

UK Armed Forces manning figures were published last week. Liberal Democrat Shadow Defence Secretary, Nick Harvey, said that they demonstrated that there was still a yawning recruitment gap in the British Army.

"The continuing decline in the number of regular Army troops should be of grave concern to the Government.

"Ministers persist in denying there is even a problem. The tail-off in recruitment and retention in the Army and the growing reliance on Commonwealth and foreign troops is a wake-up call.

"It is time for a fundamental reappraisal of the commitments we expect our troops to make and the resources they are given to do the job."