Give new recruits £10,000 to join army, says Davey

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey with his party’s defence spokesperson Helen Maguire and Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal

New soldiers should be offered a £10,000 bonus to rapidly boost troop numbers to deal with an increasingly unpredictable world, the Lib Dems have said.

The government should also distribute pamphlets to make sure every British home is “war-ready” and able to deal with blackouts and chaos caused by the outbreak of conflict or cyber-attacks, Lib Dem Leader Sir Ed Davey said.

The Lib Dems claim the plans will “urgently” boost to the number of trained soldiers from just under 71,000 to more than 73,000.

In the face of a “barbaric” Russian President Vladimir Putin and an “erratic” US President Donald Trump, Sir Ed said the UK must be better prepared.

Over the weekend, Sir Ed visited Estonia to see British troops on what he called Nato’s “frontline with Russia”.

His visit had shown him “it is clear given the threat of a barbaric Putin and the challenge of an erratic Trump, we need to do more to make Britain war-ready,” he said.

“War readiness also starts at home,” Sir Ed added, “which is why I am calling for a public awareness campaign aimed at every home in Britain – to make sure we’re all prepared for the possibility of a conflict or hostile acts such as major cyber-attacks”.

Under the plans, new recruits receive a £10,000 bonus after completing training and serving for two years.

Former armed services personnel would be offered a £20,000 payment if they return to serve two additional years.

The starting salary for new recruits to the British Army is £26,334 a year.

Under a government scheme launched last November, a total of 17,000 armed forces personnel became eligible for retention payments.

Aircraft engineers can get £30,000 if they sign up for a further three years, with privates and lance corporals eligible for £8,000 for four years.

The proposed Lib Dem scheme would be limited to 3,000 personnel, including new recruits and re-enlistees, with its £60m cost covered by the main defence budget.

The plans are drawn up with the expectation that defence spending would rise to 2.5% of national income or GDP by 2027 – as promised by Labour.

The Lib Dems have called for the uplift in defence spending to be funded through an increase of the Digital Services Tax – a 2% levy on the biggest social media and tech companies, which raises about £800m a year.

The Lib Dems argue the bonus scheme would “urgently increase” the number of trained UK regular soldiers up to 73,000 – from the 70,752 listed in the most recent official documents.

Last month, the government set out plans for a small increase to the size of the regular army to 76,000 full-time soldiers after 2029 – although this has yet to be funded.

Labour has also proposed a 20% increase in Active Reserves “when funding allows” – most likely after 2030 following an overhaul of the armed forces.

The government is consulting on plans to regenerate military homes with £7bn of funding by 2025, after bringing the defence estate back under Ministry of Defence (MoD) control last year.

A Labour spokesperson labelled Davey’s anger at cuts “confected: he backed them to the hilt”.

They added: “Ed Davey seems to have forgotten that he was a Minister in the coalition government which slashed troop numbers by 20% and cut defence spending by £2 billion in its first year.

“This Labour Government inherited an army hollowed out and underfunded, reduced to its smallest size since the Napoleonic wars.

“We have boosted defence spending by £5 billion, pledged to move to warfighting readiness, and reaffirmed our unshakeable commitments to NATO and Trident as part of the Plan for Change.”

The Conservatives have called for an increase in UK troop numbers but have not set out how many they think are needed.

This week, the shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge set out plans to have military homes run by a housing association to tackle the “poor” state of accommodation and stem an exodus of troops.

Nearly a third of UK troops were considering leaving the armed forces due to the standard of accommodation, the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) own survey found.