Forces Down

THE number of recruits to Britain's regular armed forces fell by more than 40 per cent last year.

By The Newsroom

Published 3rd Jun 2011, 02:20 BST

Updated 3rd Jun 2011, 02:22 BST

A total of 12,800 people joined the Royal Navy, Army or RAF in 2010-11, down from 21,800 in the previous 12 months, according to the Ministry of Defence. The drop was due to higher recruitment in previous years and fewer personnel leaving.

At the start of May, there were 176,430 full-time trained members of the armed forces – 1.4 per cent down on the target of 178,880.

The MoD has said military personnel will be cut by 17,000 by April 2015 in a bid to save nearly 5 billion.