British Army will not be increased in size this parliament, John Healey says

Defence secretary acknowledges it will be a number of years before a recruitment drive can be launched

Plans to increase the size of the British Army to deal with new threats identified in Monday’s strategic review will be deferred until after the next election, the UK defence secretary has said.

John Healey had been hoping to secure an increase of a few thousand from the current target of 73,000 troops, but in a BBC interview he acknowledged it would take several years before a recruitment drive would be put into action.