Downing Street Says » Territorial Army

» Monday, October 26, 2009

Territorial Army

Asked about the Telegraph story this morning on TA training, the PMS said that the TA played an extremely important role as part of our overall military effort and the Prime Minister was very grateful for what TA members did to support the country. The focus at the moment was on ensuring our efforts in Afghanistan were properly supported. The Prime Minister was asked a question by the leader of the opposition at PMQs two weeks ago and the Prime Minister had responded by saying that the priority was to ensure that those members of the TA who were both training and then deployed in Afghanistan were properly trained and properly resourced.

There needed to be a process of looking at expenditure across the armed forces and that was underway. Part of that was to ensure that any operational efficiencies in the TA could be accommodated. The most important thing was to protect what we were seeking to do in Afghanistan both with our permanent troops and TA troops.

Asked if the Prime Minister accepted that stopping TA training could have a serious long-term affect on the existence of the TA, the PMS said that how activities and operations were prioritised was for the MOD to decide. What the Prime Minister had been directly asked was the role of members of the TA in Afghanistan; he had been very clear in his response to the leader of the opposition and in a letter that he wrote subsequently.

Asked if the Prime Minister was prepared to think again about cutbacks, the PMS said that there was a process underway, covering MOD expenditure and MOD programmes and as part of that, the TA would be looked at.

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