Defence spending boost: Lib Dems call on government to prioritise reversing 10,000 troop cut

EMBARGO: 22:30 Saturday 1 March 2025

The Liberal Democrats have called on the Prime Minister to make reversing troop cuts to the British Army the top priority for the government’s increase in defence spending.

In 2021, the Conservative government announced plans to reduce the size of the army from 82,000 to 72,500. The Liberal Democrats say this should be reversed and the army restored to its former size of 82,000 by 2027 at the latest, the year by which defence spending is expected to reach 2.5% of GDP.

It comes as Keir Starmer hosts a meeting of European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in London today to discuss defence cooperation and support for Ukraine, including the potential deployment of peacekeeping troops.

In recent weeks the Prime Minister has announced that he would be open to UK troops being used in a peacekeeping mission following any potential end to the war as part of a Ukrainian security guarantee. However, the current size of the army means that the UK can only field one combat division, with no capacity for anything else. 

Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader, Daisy Cooper MP said:

“The government’s top priority for increased defence spending should be reversing the Conservatives' reckless troop cuts that have left the British army at its smallest size since Napoleon.

“We support the Prime Minister’s proposal for the potential deployment of UK troops as part of a reassurance mission in Ukraine. But there are serious questions about how this will work in practice unless we urgently boost troop numbers.

“Donald Trump continues to show just how unpredictable he is and that his support can’t be relied upon. It’s vital for the UK to invest in our armed forces so we can lead by example, support Ukraine and boost our collective security.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

The number of regular troops in the Army currently stands at 73,847, its smallest size since the Napoleonic era (Ministry of Defence here).

Professor Michael Clarke, the former deputy director-general of the Royal United Services Institute, has argued the government’s target size for the army would be sufficient to field a full combat division but would not leave sufficient capacity for the army to do anything else (see here).

The Liberal Democrats have called for increased defence spending to be funded by increasing the Digital Services Tax from 2% to 10%, which would raise an extra £3.2 billion in 2025-26, rising to £4.1 billion a year by 2029-30.

The Liberal Democrats have also called for the Government, together with European partners, to seize the £40 billion worth of frozen Russian assets across the UK and Europe and use this to fund support for Ukraine.