Defence Secretary To Face Grilling Over Threatened Armed Forces Cuts

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson will face MPs' questions for the first time with a Tory rebellion brewing over the threat of cuts to the armed forces.

Cabinet colleague Liam Fox has suggested a compromise deal will be found to ease the unrest as he acknowledged there were tensions over a review of defence capabilities.

The International Trade Secretary's intervention came after backbenchers threatened a "scrap" over cuts and a defence minister signalled he could be prepared to quit if plans are implemented to slash the Army's manpower.

Tobias Ellwood, the minister responsible for defence personnel and veterans, is reportedly prepared to resign if the cuts take place, which could see the Army's full-time strength reduced by 12,000 to 70,000.

With Mr Williamson facing his first set of defence questions in the Commons, and Mr Ellwood set to be alongside him on the front bench, the issue has the potential to cause trouble for the Government.

Tory chairman of the Defence Select Committee Julian Lewis called for a 50% increase in defence spending as the only way to avoid the "hollowing out" of the armed forces.

Johnny Mercer, a former army officer and a prominent member of the Defence Select Committee, has warned the Tory leadership a number of Conservative colleagues are prepared to fight back over the threat of cuts and "feelings are running high" on the issue.

"Heading back into town for another scrap this week," he warned.

"I am determined that as the party of defence, we as a team will get it right."

Mr Lewis used a letter to the Guardian to set out his views:

"By barely achieving Nato's 2% minimum figure, we have dangerously downgraded the place of defence in our list of national priorities.

"Setting ourselves a spending target of 3% of GDP for defence would not by itself guarantee our security, but without such an increase there is no prospect of recruiting personnel and buying equipment on a scale sufficient to avoid the 'hollowing-out' of our armed forces."

Speculation about defence cuts has mounted in recent months since the launch of a review led by Theresa May's national security adviser Mark Sedwill.

The review is examining all aspects of national security capabilities, fuelling speculation it will prioritise measures to counter cyber attacks and terrorism rather than major defence projects.

As well as rumours about potential cuts to the strength of the Army, there have been concerns about the future of armoured vehicle programmes and suggestions that amphibious assault ships HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark could be axed alongside the loss of 1,000 Royal Marines.

But Dr Fox, a former defence secretary, said: "You have to look at our record.

"We are one of the very few Nato countries that actually spends 2% of our GDP on defence.

"There's a review going on at the present time and I think back to my time as secretary of state for defence where we had a similar review ongoing and there's always a lot of tension, not just between the MoD and the Treasury but also inside the MoD between the different parts of the armed forces and naturally there are concerns about the future shape of that.

"But this is an ongoing discussion.

"I'm afraid it's not unknown for some of these tensions to spill over into the public domain."

He told Sky News's Sunday With Niall Paterson: "I think we should wait and see exactly what sort of compromise we reach, because that's what it will be and remember that the UK is the fourth biggest military budget in the world and is one of the very few Nato countries actually fulfilling promises to spend and help protect our partners."

The MoD said no decisions had been made and dismissed reports about the options being considered for cuts as "speculation".