The Defence Secretary has indicated he is looking at the size of the armed forces in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Appearing in front of the Defence Committee, Ben Wallace faced questions on his department's budget, an issue that appeared to prompt Cabinet divisions last week as the Prime Minister attended the Nato summit.
Boris Johnson promised a further £55 billion in defence spending over the rest of the decade in response to the threat posed by Vladimir Putin's Russia. He committed Britain to increasing defence spending to 2.5% of gross domestic product (GDP), a measure of the size of the economy, by the end of the decade.
Mr Johnson pledged the rise on Thursday after public lobbying from Mr Wallace and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss. Mr Wallace was pressed on any representations he had made to the Prime Minister on defence spending, as well as on the size of the armed forces. He said the size of the Army was currently 81,000, with a scheduled plan to cut that in coming years to 73,000.
