British Army forced to CANCEL drills as soldiers left ‘twiddling their thumbs’

Western officials have warned the cuts are harming Britain’s “operational capability” as they insisted Russia would not relent.

Now, military analysts have accused the army of “pulling its armoured punch” by cancelling heavy armour exercises involving multiple vehicles to instead focus on training troops in smaller-scale drone warfare.

The Dip was originally set to be released in full in autumn last year.

However, constant back and forth between the Treasury and Ministry of Defence (MoD) delayed its publication by months.

When it was finally published, in June, it pledged billions in extra funds for the military.

However, the delays left the armed forces with a logistical headache as the British Army, RAF and Royal Navy had all planned their schedules for the year before the new budget was set, in line with training timetables that begin in April.

|

GETTY

An official told The Times: “What that means is that all of the things that we had planned to do, we could not then afford to do with the very significant settlement we have.

“We have a duty to our taxpayers and to the rest of government to live within our means.”

As a result of this, planners were forced to “look at the totality of where the £11.5billion they spend a year was going and identified those things that they would have to stop doing”.

The official went on to say top brass were forced to “choose those measures that have the least impact on our operational capability and output”.

| GETTY

Stressing the importance of the drills, the official said: “Training is an important part of the readiness of our armed forces.”

However, they were quick to add the MoD is keen to “ensure that our soldiers, sailors, and aviators are able to do the training that they need…but we also have a duty to live within the budget that we are set”.

Chief of the defence staff Sir Richard Knighton is said to be looking at how to increase the level of training troops are able to deliver “to ensure that we are as ready as we can be”.

All this comes as Western intelligence suggests Vladimir Putin is refusing to budge, despite the heavy death toll following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

|

REUTERS

Sir Richard said: “That’s half a million photographs hanging on the walls in devastated, darkened homes in Russia.

“That means half a million families will never see their father, their son, their brother or husband again.

“I think these numbers illustrate clearly the senseless and futile waste of human life for such little progress and against such an illegitimate aim of President Putin.”

The western official added: “We don’t see any intelligence that suggests that (Putin) is reflective of the huge cost to his people.”

| ​PA

Andy Burnham clashed with Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch on whether the Government would reach the target of three per cent for defence funding by 2030, insisting there were “serious threats to national security that cannot wait”.

The Prime Minister went on the offensive, insisting the Conservatives’ plan to fund defence by cutting housing benefits would create mass homelessness.

During PMQs on Wednesday, also insisted the Government would honour Nato commitments to reach 3.5 per cent by 2035, with a target for three per cent funding set out in the spending review.

The Tories set out their plans to fund defence last week, with some £4billion coming from a reformed housing benefit and a further £3.1billion through reimposing the two-child benefit cap.

Mr Burnham said: “I don’t think myself that taking £4billion out of housing benefit is going to get the right consensus around this issue, because that would create levels of homelessness in this country that we wouldn’t have seen before, hundreds of thousands of children in temporary accommodation.

“We do everything to support our national security, but it can’t come at the expense of social security.”