PM backs down over TA training cuts

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Labour MPs who criticised the £20 million cut in Parliament confirmed on Tuesday night that Mr Brown had personally intervened to reverse the decision.

The move followed a series of conversations with Labour critics of the plan, including former Defence Secretary John Reid.

"I very much welcome the fact that the Prime Minister has been prepared to listen to the issues and personally intervene to make sure that the Territorial Army training budget is retained," Mr Reid said.

The disclosure of the latest retreat came as MPs prepared for a high-profile opposition day debate on the TA in the Commons on Wednesday.

Under the cuts plan - part of a cost-cutting programme in the Army designed to save £54 million - the TA had faced the cancellation of all routine training for the rest of the financial year.

In the Commons on Monday, Armed Forces minister Bill Rammell staged a partial climbdown, announcing a "small adjustment" of £2.5 million to allow TA soldiers to attend one drill night a month.

However, the concession failed to satisfy critics on all sides of the House, with a number of prominent figures on the Labour benches calling for a full rethink of the cuts plan.

Mr Reid confirmed that, after a series of conversations with Labour MPs, Mr Brown had agreed that the full budget should be reinstated.

Shadow defence minister Gerald Howarth said the Government's climbdown was a victory for Tory leader David Cameron. Liberal Democrat defence spokesman Nick Harvey said: "The state of the TA is much too important to be used as a political football in this way."