A DORSET MP and former soldier has slammed government plans to cut the regular army to the smallest it has been in a century.

Secretary of State for Defence Liam Fox yesterday announced plans to remodel the army along the lines used by the USA and Australia, with cuts to the number of professionals going hand-in-hand with an increase in the size of the reserves.

But MP for South Dorset Richard Drax, who served in the army, told how he had written in protest to the Prime Minister, branding the decision to make the cuts as irresponsible.

“If politicians have learned nothing from history that is you do not cut our armed forces without a large amount of thought and planning for the future,” Mr Drax said.

“The world is as unstable as it’s ever been and this at a time that we in the UK are cutting our armed forces.

“It’s the height of folly.”

The army will be reduced from its present strength of 101,000 professionals to 82,000 by 2020, its smallest size for a hundred years, while the number of reservists will be increased to around 30,000.

But Bournemouth MP Tobias Ellwood, who is parliamentary private secretary to the defence secretary, insisted that changes to the structure of the army would not impact on its character, professionalism or capability to mount operations abroad.

“Currently there is a huge imbalance in the army,” said the Bournemouth East MP, who served with the Royal Green Jackets.

“The ratio of professional soldiers to reservists in the USA is around 50/50, in Australia it’s 60/40, while in the UK it’s almost 85/15.

“We will end up with a more versatile army than we have at the moment.

“The reserves have very much embraced these changes, although it will take time to adjust.

“Effectively a quarter of the army leaves every year anyway.

“The average time a soldier spends in the army is four years. Most reservists serve for significantly longer.

“In my experience reservists are often a little older so they pick things up very quickly. It also mean that instead of using our reserves to infill units that are short, we may be able to deploy whole units of reserves who have trained together.

“We will have a more dynamic, flexible army better suited to its future requirements. ”

The MP added yesterday that not only would the army benefit from having specialists with skills gained in their civilian employment, but also employers would gain by having staff whose leadership skills and maturity would be developed by service in the army.