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Armed forces 'understaffed', report says

Britain's armed forces are significantly understaffed in critical areas such as intelligence and engineering, Whitehall's spending watchdog has warned.

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Gavin Williamson wants more funding for defence

A report published by the National Audit Office (NAO) states that as of January this year the country's full time military was operating at 5.7 per cent below the current target – the biggest gap in a decade.

The stark warning will pile more pressure on Theresa May and her Chancellor Philip Hammond to increase Britain's military budget as part of the ongoing defence spending review.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson is pushing for an uplift in funding for Britain's armed forces, with the issue becoming more urgent in the wake of the Salisbury chemical attack and the UK's deteriorating relationship with the Kremlin.

He has already secured £800m extra funding for the Dreadnought submarine programme, and wants to increase troop numbers.

The NAO report said that 8,200 regulars are needed to meet minimum requirements.

It also said that alongside the gap in personnel numbers across the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force, there are 'much larger shortfalls in critical skills'.

With 102 'pinch-point' trades, the watchdog said there are not enough trained regulars to carry out operational tasks without cancelling leave or training within these areas.

According to the NAO most of these so-called pinch-points were in six areas including engineering, intelligence, logistics, pilots, communications and medical.

This includes a lack of some 2,400 engineers – with the largest among Royal Navy weapons engineers – a shortfall of 700 intelligence analysts, and a need for 800 pilots.

With the impact of the shortfalls becoming 'more severe over the past year', just six are expected to be resolved over the coming five years, with 23 becoming worse, the NAO said.

NAO chief Sir Amyas Morse said: "The department needs to fundamentally change its approach to develop skilled personnel and address the long-established shortfalls that persist."

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said recruiting and retaining talent is a 'top priority', adding that there were a range of schemes used to attract and keep skilled personnel.

"The military has enough personnel to meet all its operational requirements, including being active on 25 operations in 30 countries throughout the world," he said.

"In the past year we have recruited over 13,000 people into the armed forces."