Kevan Jones MP: We need a fundamental reassessment of Army 2020

The Shadow Minister for the Armed Forces calls for a reassessment of recent changes to the British Army so it can best meet the multifaceted challenges of twenty first century warfare. With the formal end of the UK’s military engagement in Afghanistan, now is a poignant moment for us to take stock on a conflict that lasted *13* years and has become the defining operation for this generation of the Armed Forces. As Remembrance services take place over the coming weeks, we will again pay tribute those who have made untold sacrifices, including the 453 Service Personnel who never returned home from Afghanistan to their families and loved ones. The withdrawal from Helmand has also served to focus minds on the future of our Armed Forces. This week the Telegraph reported comments from General Sir Nick Carter, Chief of the General Staff, that Army reservists should only be used in a national emergency and not “routinely” be called upon. Yet another senior military figure has asked serious questions about one of the key driving principles behind Army 2020: closer integration between reservists and regulars. We would be wise to listen carefully. Closer integration was supposed to have underpinned the decision to almost double the numbers of reserves by 2018. Closer integration was supposed to have driven the investment in reservists’ training and equipment. Closer integration was supposed to have been the reason for the change of name from the Territorial Army to the Army Reserve. Now, over two years since the Army 2020 reforms were announced, we have yet more doubt cast over the Army’s greatest structural reform in decades. It is no wonder that the MoD’s own figures show that only 32 per cent of Army personnel have confidence that reservists are well integrated with their regular counterparts. These comments come on the back of a chorus of concern from senior military figures, not only about the rationale behind Army 2020 but about its delivery, too. Sir Peter Wall, the former Chief of the General Staff, has admitted that there was no strategic concept underpinning Army 2020 other than simply to reduce costs. It is time the Government was honest with the Army about how it sees its future role and size. General Sir Richard Sheriff and Lord Dannatt have also sowed seeds of doubt on the virtue and viability of the Government’s reforms. Ministers have fallen significantly short of their ambitious recruitment targets, so it is right that such senior voices have expressed their concern. This latest setback for Army 2020 comes on the back of reports from the National Audit Office, the Public Accounts Committee and the Defence Select Committee, all of which have panned the Government for not properly testing their proposals and for rushing through seismic, generational reforms on the back of an envelope. The British Army has a proud and longstanding tradition of adaptation and reform, which has allowed it to maintain its position as the most professional land fighting outfit in the world. But Ministers cannot afford to rest on the laurels of this illustrious history. The next Government will inherit a set of Army reforms that are fundamentally flawed, were not properly tested and which consequently are falling apart at the seams. Army 2020 is not meeting its objectives of integration and rapidly increased recruitment. We are clear that providing solutions to these complex problems can only be achieved by avoiding the mistakes of this Government’s rushed 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review. Instead, Labour will ensure that the UK’s Armed Forces be given a thought through, fiscally-responsible and strategic direction for their future role in the world. Part of this must include a fundamental reassessment of Army 2020. Only by doing this can we make certain that the British Army is able to advance its standards of excellence and meet the multifaceted challenges of twenty first century warfare. Kevan Jones MP is the Shadow Minister for the Armed Forces