British Government announces £1.5 billion investment in the Territorial Army

  

25-07-11

Liam Fox, Britain's defence secretary announced last week that there will be an investment of £1.5 billion in the reserve forces of the British army (Territorial Army). His plan will increase the amount and percentage of reservists, while cutting the amount of regular Army soldiers by over 15,000 over the next 9 years. This shift will endeavour to bring the ratio of fulltime soldiers against the reserve to 70:30. The secretary's announcement attempts to emulate other English speaking nations like the US, Canada and Australia.

There has recently been a stress on slashing the defence budget as this news comes amidst a large number of Council protests against budget cuts to vital services such as bin collection. In times of hardship, the average citizen will find it hard to see the need for increasing the reserve Army while social services are falling apart due to underfunding.

The defence budget for Western nations has been a murky area in the modern era, where the actual implications and results of cuts and investments are hard to analyse. When facing adverse times, the need for efficiency becomes a greater priority. As a result of the mounting pressure, the defence ministry has already been facing sharp cuts under Britain's austerity measures. The EU defence ministers have been tackling the topic of defence under times of austerity over the last few months, with military pooling and sharing, joint development of weapons and partial integration of militaries being the crux of the outcomes of the debate.

The US has maintained a large portion of their soldiers as reserves, split between the US Army Reserve and the National Guard. This investment is therefore seen as a reworking of resources to create a more economical change to be comparable to the US model. Dr Fox has mentioned the idea of the TA doubling up as homeland security as and when they are needed in that role. Units stationed in Germany since World War II are to return to take over air force installations, leading to the question as to why these seemingly simple changes are only being implemented now.

Despite the many cuts, seeing that large number alongside “reserve Army” is bound to turn the heads of those struggling to pay bills. Defence is a strategically important part of the political game. No sides want to be seen as weak on defence, yet the balancing of prioritising more grounded, less ambiguous needs of the working and middle class against the vaguer global arena is a tricky game to play with a limited budget. There is currently wall between the general public and soldiers due to the small percentage of the UK involved in the military. The argument is not being made well for any increases in military spending. Shared sacrifice is necessary but unless Liam Fox and the government make a clearer case to the people, this move may be seen as a misallocation of scarce resources.