Strength of the UK’s Armed Forces — 14 Apr 2021 at 18:50

The majority of MPs voted to support the Government's plans for the armed services, including a reduction in the size of the army.

The motion rejected by a majority of MPs in this vote was:

  • That this House
  • notes the Prime Minister’s 2019 election pledge that his Government would not cut the Armed Services in any form;
  • further notes with concern the threat assessment in the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy, that threats from other states to the UK and its allies are growing and diversifying;
  • calls on the Government to rethink its plan set out in the Defence Command Paper, published in March 2021, CP411, to reduce key defence capabilities and reduce the strength of the Armed Forces, including a further reduction in the size of the Army by 2025; and
  • calls on the Prime Minister to make an oral statement to Parliament by June 30 2021 on the Government’s plans to reduce the capability and strength of the Armed Forces.

Paragraph 7.32 of the paper stated, in relation to the army, that there would be "a reduction from the current Full Time Trade Trained strength of 76,000 to 72,500 by 2025" however it is not clear that the overall the paper amounts to a plan to "reduce the capability and strength of the Armed Forces".

Debate in Parliament |

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Party Summary

Votes by party, red entries are votes against the majority for that party.

What is Tell? '+1 tell' means that in addition one member of that party was a teller for that division lobby.

What are Boths? An MP can vote both aye and no in the same division. The boths page explains this.

What is Turnout? This is measured against the total membership of the party at the time of the vote.

PartyMajority (No)Minority (Aye)BothTurnout
Alliance0 10100.0%
Con358 (+2 tell) 0098.9%
DUP0 7087.5%
Independent0 1025.0%
Lab0 188 (+2 tell)095.5%
LDem0 110100.0%
PC0 30100.0%
SNP0 440100.0%
Total:358 255097.3%

Rebel Voters - sorted by name

MPs for which their vote in this division differed from the majority vote of their party. You can see all votes in this division, or every eligible MP who could have voted in this division

Sort by: Name | Constituency | Party | Vote

NameConstituencyPartyVote
no rebellions

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