“The British armed forces could be forced to shrink by up to a fifth because of a lack of money, a military think tank has predicted.  The Royal United Services Institute said the number of trained military personnel could fall from 175,000 to little more than 140,000 by 2016″.

So? It’s already widely discussed that public sector spending needs to be cut anyway, so why should the military be exempt from the pain? Are soldiers more important than nurses, teachers, librarians, and benefits clerks?

As it is, defence spending is currently 5.8% of total UK Government expenditure. What would the RUSI cut in order for defence not to share the pain of public sector cuts?