The Prime Minister and Bob Ainsworth, the Defence Secretary, have been under mounting pressure to halt plans to reduce funding for vital TA training after being accused of acting in a “shameful” way.
The Ministry of Defence has ordered £20 million to be stripped from the budget allocated for drill nights and weekend training for TA soldiers. It has left scores of reservist soldiers threatening to leave the force, which already suffers from a shortfall of 6,000.
The TA provides between 6 and 10 per cent of troops for the British force fighting in Afghanistan. There are currently around 500 TA men and women stationed in Afghanistan.
Last night sources suggested ministers at the MoD were preparing to offer a significant concession on the issue amid fears that Downing Street was heading towards another public relations calamity. This summer, Mr Brown was forced into an about-turn and allowed Gurkha veterans to settle in Britain following a high profile campaign headed by the actress Joanna Lumley.
It is understood ministers could be ready to announce that up to £4 million has been found to ensure that drill nights for TA soldiers can be restored.
MoD officials were still trying to thrash out details after it became clear that the issue could escalate into a full-blown political disaster for the Prime Minister and Mr AInsworth.
The cuts have provoked a storm of protest from serving TA soldiers and the opposition at Westminster.
Reservists have warned that without adequate training they will not be properly prepared for action in Afghanistan and cannot have confidence in their equipment.
As a result of the cuts there are a number of training areas that the TA can no longer carry out which some believe could prove dangerous when they deploy on operations.
For example soldiers can no longer fire live rounds on the ranges.
A TA officer who has fought in Iraq said: “A soldier volunteering for Afghanistan might fire his weapon live for the first time since his basic training five years before just before he deploys.
“The mobilisation package cannot turn a civilian into a soldier or someone who can hardly shoot into a marksman and yet many TA soldiers find themselves in combat roles. An untrained TA solider would be unable to protect himself and those around him.”
Soldiers have also been banned from training in gas chambers for chemical warfare training which means they will not even be able to test if their respirators work.
And they cannot drive their tanks more than nine miles a month for training due to the cost of running the vehicles.
A tank driver in the Royal Armoured Corps told The Daily Telegraph that with the nine mile restriction in place this “wasn’t enough to get to the nearest training area.”
“They get driven round town once a month and then put to bed.”
There has also been a ban on being paid for adventure training.
A TA infantry officer said: “This used to be a massive recruiting boost for the TA and a fantastic team bonding exercise. People would tell friends they went mountain climbing or canoeing for a weekend and got paid for it. It really was a draw.”
Today, the Conservatives have called a debate to try and force a re-think.
Liam Fox, the shadow defence secretary, said: “This is an insult to our Armed Forces that it shows just how pitifully out-of-touch and incompetent this Government has become.
“These are men and women that have voluntarily chosen to serve their country and it is shameful that for the sake of a few million pounds in a budget of £37 billion they are being tossed aside. Ministers from Gordon Brown down should understand that we need the TA in Afghanistan.”
The Army has been told to make savings, but the axe seems to have fallen disproportionately on the TA.
A document sent to soldiers explaining the decision, seen by The Daily Telegraph, points out that “savings of £20 million against the TA are in addition to the earlier £23million reduction already taken, representing around 30 per cent of the TA’s annual budget and more than half of the budget for the remainder of the year.”
A Commons motion denouncing the cuts has been signed by nearly 50 MPs, including some Labour members.
Mark Lancaster, a Tory MP and member of the TA, said: “This is an astonishingly short-sighted measure by the Government that will do nothing but harm to the Territorial Army.
“Ministers clearly do not understand how the TA works. TA units have drill nights where on a Tuesday night they will go and be part of that unit.
“If that goes then they will go and do something else on a Tuesday night and they will be lost forever. Trying to mothball training is just so misguided.
“It also fails to look at what the Government gets for their money. Around 6 – 10 per cent of all those on operations are from TA units. These are people that do not have MoD pensions, housing or other costs that regular soldiers get and they are just going to leave. It is penny-pinching, but in long term it will cost more by doing this.”
Mr Lancaster completed a short service commission in the Queen’s Gurkha Engineers before joining the TA in 1990. He has commanded a bomb disposal unit in the TA and has been mobilised to Kosovo, Bosnia and Afghanistan.
He points out that the savings of around £20 million are miniscule when compared to what is being lost in terms of expertise and willingness to serve the country.
Soldiers in the Territorial Army echoed Mr Lancaster’s warning and talked of a “mass exodus".
A TA infantry officer told The Daily Telegraph: “A number of my soldiers actually use the TA as weekend job which can give them 25 per cent or more boost to their income.
“Now they are going to find new jobs, probably working as barman or something and they will never come back. It will be a mass exodus but these are people with invaluable experience from Iraq and Afghanistan and that will be lost forever because they will not come back.”
On Wednesday, the Conservatives will hold a Commons debate on the issue.
David Cameron has already used Prime Minister’s Questions to tackle Gordon Brown over the "unacceptable" decision, saying that it contradicted the Government's pledge to ensure every soldier in Afghanistan was fully trained.
Territorial Army budget cuts plans halted
By Andrew Porter and James Kirkup
Published: Daily Telegraph 9:02PM GMT 27 Oct 2009
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/defence/6449048/Territorial-Army-budget-cuts-plans-halted.html
Gordon Brown was forced into a climbdown last night when he agreed to halt plans to cut £20 million from the Territorial Army budget.
It comes after pressure from reservists and the Conservatives who argued that the move would lead to large numbers of TA members leaving the service.
The Daily Telegraph revealed on Monday that Mr Brown was anxious to avoid a political row over the Armed Forces only months after he relented in a battle over Gurkhas who want to settle in Britain and was preparing to climbdown and find the money.
The Ministry of Defence made a first attempt to allay growing anger over the cuts on Monday, offering £2.5 million to replace some of the training nights reservists were to lose.
But that concession failed to defuse the situation and significantly, a number of senior Labour backbenchers joined the criticism of the Government over the cuts. Several spoke out in the Commons on Monday, and others criticized ministers at a private meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party on Monday night.
Serving TA officers had warned that cutting their training would leave them unprepared for battle. They said they were unable to take part in drill nights, had limited opportunity to use military vehicles and could not practise with equipment in gas chambers.
After a series of crisis meetings between officials from Number 10 and the Ministry of Defence, the full £20 million that was to have been cut will now be restored to the TA budget.
The deal was thrashed out after Gordon Brown and David Richards, the Chief of Defence Staff, agreed the decision had to be reversed.
It is understood the money is extra cash given to the MoD by the Treasury.
John Reid, the former defence secretary, said: “I very much welcome the fact that the Prime Minister has been prepared to listen to the issues and personally intervene to make sure that the Territorial Army training budget is retained.”
Liberal Democrat Shadow Defence Secretary, Nick Harvey said: “The state of the TA is much too important to be used as a political football in this way.
“It was a shocking error of judgement for the Government to have contemplated this cut in the first place.
“It is a sad fact that Gordon Brown’s moral compass has only managed to kick in in the face of opposition across the board.”
The decision is likely to be confirmed in the House of Commons today when the Conservatives convene another parliamentary debate about the cuts, which were first revealed by David Cameron two weeks ago.
The original package of cuts would have meant that TA soldiers lost all of their weekly training nights and weekend sessions. The £2.5 million would only have restored one training night each month.
The Conservatives last night hailed the Government retreat as a victory.
Mark Lancaster, a Tory frontbencher and serving and TA officer, said: "This is a significant victory. The TA did not deserve this and I am pleased someone has seen sense.
"These are people who voluntarily perform a vital role and only want to serve their country. Taking away training would have had dire consequences".
Defence ministers had argued that the cuts were necessary because of overspending in the Army budget and the need to focus spending on active operations in Afghanistan.
