Labour: Next PM must have greater focus on needs of Armed Forces

The Shadow Minister for the Armed Forces hopes that the new Prime Minister will have "a greater focus" on the needs of the Armed Forces than Boris Johnson.

In an interview with Forces News, Luke Pollard MP said while the outgoing PM has committed to increasing defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2030, he had "also presided over an Integrated Review that plans to cut 10,000 soldiers from the Army, cut our reserve forces by 10% and cut the number of tanks, aircraft and surface ships over the next three years".

"Although we have a lot of good rhetoric, I'm afraid that when it's come to delivery, we haven't had the same in place and I do hope that whoever now replaces Boris Johnson [as Prime Minister] will have a greater focus on the needs in what is a more difficult time with a plan to review the defence plans and reboot defence spending," Mr Pollard said.

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Discussing the Government's Integrated Review, he added that he is "not certain that a smaller military at the end of it will meet adequately the threats that Britain is now facing".

Some of Mr Johnson's supporters have claimed that the Armed Forces have lost a "great champion" following his resignation.