DEFENCE chiefs have acknowledged the importance of the Red Arrows and confirmed there are no immediate plans to cut the display team's budget.

For months, speculation about the future of the Arrows has grown amid fears that the world-famous display team could even be axed from the defence budget as Britain's armed forces become increasingly stretched in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But earlier this week MP for Bournemouth East Tobias Ellwood confronted the secretary of defence during defence questions in parliament, where the minister assured him there are no immediate plans to scrap the team.

This is despite the MP receiving several written responses to letters he wrote to defence chiefs in recent months, which failed to clarify the future of the popular display team.

"I have been campaigning for this announcement for some time and I am pleased the government has changed its mind over the future of the Red Arrows display team," the MP said.

"The MOD have clearly listened to the growing number of voices in the UK that are determined to see Britain retain the Red Arrows act as crucial aerial ambassadors for the RAF."

The MP was first alerted to the threat to the Red Arrows when he discovered that the Ministry of Defence was considering cutting back on the red and blue smoke that streams from the Red Arrows while they are doing their aerobatics displays.

RAF chiefs have been told to cut costs and one proposal was to save money on the specialist dyes, nozzles and tanks used to create the Red Arrows' trademark coloured smoke trails.

Following the public outcry, the Ministry of Defence shelved the proposals, but failed to quell fears that the plan will be resurrected in the next round of military cost-cutting.

Every year thousands of onlookers crowd Bournemouth's clifftops and pack the beaches to watch the world-famous Reds perform their astonishing aerobatics.

This year's Red Arrows display will take place at the seafront at midday on August 17.