A £37 billion deficit needs to be cleared by the Ministry of Defence, although the Government is targeting the civil service mandarins rather than troops. The Minister in charge, Liam Fox, said it would be “difficult and painful” to deal with this “dangerous deficit”, but pledged a stop to the “endless salami slicing” of military budgets. Dr Fox ruled out any merger of the Royal Navy, Army and RAF but has hinted there were still disagreements between the MoD and the Treasury over who will pay the £20 billion cost for replacing Britain’s Trident nuclear deterrent.
