The United Kingdom faces the issue of losing up to a third of its regular troops, according to The Times. The newspaper reported that the British Army has not met its annual recruitment target for several years and could see a further reduction in the next 10 years if the current projection continues.
The outlet indicated that the number of British Army personnel could be reduced by a third in another decade, going from 75,000 troops to just 52,000. Meanwhile, official statistics from the UK’s Ministry of Defence, current as of October 1, 2023, reported a total of 75,980 regular soldiers in the army.
“In a decade’s time, based on present trends, the army will be 52,000 strong, small enough to fit inside Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium,” the newspaper highlights.
According to the article, the United Kingdom’s land forces branch has registered a negative recruiting trend for a decade, failing to meet annual objectives every year. In September 2023, the outlet added, the total number of regular soldiers was reduced by more than 3,000.
A former senior military official, cited in the article, explained that the British Army cannot send even a 25,000-person mechanised division on overseas operations because it has not invested in various support elements, such as supply vehicles and radio-electronic warfare equipment.
“The problems facing all the services are major, deep and growing: personnel, infrastructure, training — and that’s before you get to equipment,” Francis Tusa, who writes the Defence Analysis newsletter, said.
Likewise, the biggest problems with personnel numbers are being experienced by the British Royal Navy and Marine Corps. Given the shortage of troops, the UK command plans to withdraw two ships from service and put several other amphibious landing ships in reserve to free up crews and deploy them on new Type 26 frigates, The Telegraph revealed.
The media also mentioned that personnel shortages constitute the main factor in the lack of preparation of British aircraft carriers to deploy in the Red Sea because of Operation Prosperity Guardian, launched by the US in the context of Houthi attacks to stop the passage of ships heading to Israel due to the war in Gaza.
Specifically, as The Telegraph points out, the support ship Fort Victoria, considered the most suitable for this level of operations, has not yet been deployed since, instead of a standard crew of 100 people, it is currently at a minimum.
It comes as the same newspaper warned that political dysfunction, coupled with ineffective inflation control from London, could lead to a crisis like the island country has not faced since the 1970s, and according to the newspaper, the decade started very badly for the UK due to the pandemic, energy crises, and conflicts in the Middle East, which affected the world economy and led Britain into recession.
“This toxic combination – stagflation – hit a country mired in political turmoil. Union strikes brought workplaces to a grinding halt. An irate public turned on an unusually fractious political system that delivered five governments and four prime ministers in ten years,” the article reads.
Thus, to date, highlights The Telegraph, these first three years of the current decade have been very similar to the beginning of the 1970s when, between 1973 and 1974, the UK recorded inflation of 9% and entered a recession for two years driven by fuel shortages.
The tremors of another similar crisis arose after it was announced that inflation rose month by month for the first time since February 2023 from 3.9% to 4%. Inflation has been a topic of concern in recent months, as several factors have raised fears, particularly lockouts, the conflict in Ukraine, and the resulting increase in energy prices that generate instability, in addition to the crisis in Yemen.
Yet, despite major issues in the military and economy, London insists on self-destructive policies in its failed attempt to project power across the world, even if it results in humiliating gaffs. Besides sanctions against Russia boomeranging, footage recently emerged showing HMS Chiddingfold reversing into HMS Bangor off the coast of Bahrain, causing significant damage and bringing to question how the British could deal with Houthi piracy and attacks in the Red Sea.
It is evident that the memory of the British Empire still lives strongly in London, but Britain no longer has the capabilities to project power as it could in the 19th century. In fact, the situation is so bad that Britain is expected by 2026 to have an army smaller than the US special operations forces alone. As decisionmakers London continues making mistakes, regular Britons are suffering.
