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23 January 2012
The Ministry of Defence announces its second round of redundancies.
THE ARMED Forces has recently announced the fields from which it will select those to be made redundant in the second round of the Armed Forces Redundancy Programme.
The programme was announced in the Strategic Defence Security Review (SDSR) in October 2010.
Defence Secretary, Philip Hammond, said: "Difficult decisions had to be taken in the SDSR to deal with the vast black hole in the MoD budget.
"The size of the fiscal deficit we inherited left us no choice but to reduce the size of the Armed Forces - while reconfiguring them to ensure they remain agile, adaptable and effective.
"As we continue with the redundancy process we will ensure we retain the capabilities that our Armed Forces will require to meet the challenges of the future.
"The redundancy programme will not impact adversely on the current operations in Afghanistan, where our Armed Forces continue to fight so bravely on this country's behalf."
In the SDSR, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced plans to reduce the size of the Army by 7,000 personnel and both the Navy and RAF by 5,000 personnel by 2015.
Some of these reductions are being made through a redundancy programme. When looking at the balance of Regular to Reserve forces, further reductions were identified in July 2011 for the regular Army, taking them to around 82,000 by 2020.
This second tranche will consist of up to 300 members of the Naval Service, up to 2,900 members of the Army and up to 1,000 members of the Royal Air Force.
This will be the last major tranche for the Navy and the RAF. They will be able to achieve the remaining reductions through things like slowing down recruiting and not replacing those who leave.
Jim Murphy MP, Labour's Shadow Defence Secretary, said: "Mass service redundancies at a time of economic hardship and significant security threats will be of deep concern up and down the country.
"If Labour were in Government we would be taking tough decisions and we have been upfront about the need for cuts to the defence budget, including to manpower and the equipment programme. Savings must be made and Britain will need to confront global threats with leaner, more advanced Armed Forces in future.
"The most important baseline, however, is national security and we worry these cuts are wrong-headed and rushed. We need to know the full military impact of losing such important capability.
"Ministers must do more to convince that they are looking after families, all service leavers and those on the frontline."
ENDS
Article originally sourced via Porcupine PR in BRIDGWATER, UK, 2012-01-23
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