As global threats grow, Army left battling a huge recruitment crisis

TROOP numbers have nosedived in the past four years despite the Ministry of Defence spending £40million on recruitment drives.

- David Williamson

DEFENCE IN DISARRAY

And MPs fear that time is running out for Britain to put in place the military it needs to counter a range of international threats.

The Army had a target of recruiting 8,220 people in 2022-23 to non-officer ranks but only 5,560 started training.

Last week, politicians warned of a “recruitment crisis”. It came as the Defence Committee said that while the MoD admits for every eight service personnel who leave it recruits five people, the “situation may have deteriorated further”.

This is despite the department spending £39.7 million on recruitment campaigns since 2020-21.

Former Armed Forces minister Mark Francois described the situation as a “total shambles” and turned his guns on Capita, which provides recruitment services.

The MP said: “The MoD remains in complete denial about the dire state of both recruitment and retention in the British Army.