British armed forces are 'over-stretched'

The claim follows a report by Whitehall spending watchdog the National Audit Office (NAO) that forces are 2.8 per cent under strength, with only the Army coming within the two per cent tolerance range of its target.

He said: "I know people going back on operations within six months of returning.

"One of the reasons older armed forces people are leaving is because they want to see more of their families and be in England more. But you have 18 or 19-year-olds - a lot of whom say they don't deploy enough.

In an interview with GMTV, he added: "What we need is lance corporals, corporals, sergeants and younger officers such as captains staying in because those are the people who have got the experience and they're tending to leave."

The Government, however, played down fears that the armed forces are under pressure and said they were stretched but not "over-stretched".

Junior defence minister Derek Twigg said he welcomed the report and members of the armed forces are valued "very strongly".

He told GMTV: "We are stretched but not over-stretched. While it is clear some people are unhappy with operations, quite a number want to join because of the operations. They are doing a tremendous job.

"Some of the Marines left because they could not go on operations. There has been an upsurge in interest from people who want to join the armed forces."

Mr Twigg said the Government is looking at pay after announcing an operational bonus of £2,240.

"We are looking at more financial incentives. We hope to do more in regards to this in the future," he added.

The report disclosed that in the 30 months to January, 14.5 per cent of Army personnel had been sent on operations more frequently than they were supposed to be under the service's "harmony guidelines".

In some "pinch point" trades, such as vehicle mechanics and armourers, where the shortages are particularly acute, as many as 40 per cent had breached the guidelines.

The NAO report noted: "The department (MoD) accepts that operating at this level can result in additional strains on its people."

Edward Leigh, chairman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee which examines the work of the NAO, said the current manning levels are now "intolerable".

In the Royal Navy, the shortages have meant ships sailing with their crews, on average, 12 per cent below strength. At the same time, the report said the numbers leaving early are rising, with 9,200 going last year before their period of engagement was up.

The impact of service life on their families, the inability to plan ahead and too many deployments were among the main reasons cited.

Other reasons for going early included feelings that the work of the services is no longer valued, uncertainty over the future of the forces, and concerns about the quality of equipment.

Conversely, among the Royal Marines - which are almost 10 per cent below strength - 28 per cent of those who left early complained that they were going on too few operations, although that was before their current deployment in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, recruitment to the forces has been hit by the controversies over the Iraq war and bullying at Deepcut Army barracks which made parents more reluctant to allow their sons and daughters to join up.

Overall, the figures showed that as of last July, the Army was 1.8 per cent below strength with a total of 100,010 personnel, the Navy was 3.6 per cent under-strength with 35,470 personnel, and Royal Air Force had a 4.5 per cent shortfall with 45,210.

While the forces have achieved 98 per cent of their recruitment targets since 2000/01, the figures mask shortfalls in some "pinch point" trades, where fewer than half the targets were met last year.

These include accident and emergency and intensive therapy unit nurses, who are almost 70 per cent below strength and have been forced to rely on reservists to plug the gaps.

The nuclear "watchkeepers" - the engineers who keep the Navy's fleet of nuclear submarines at sea - are 29 per cent under strength, which mean that some submarines are sent out without their full complement.