MoD 'Out Of Debt' For The First Time Ever

A £38bn black hole in the UK's defence budget has been eliminated, Defence Secretary Philip Hammond has confirmed.

Mr Hammond told the House of Commons that the Government had filled the gap, admitting that "tough decisions" were needed - but he refused to release details of specific savings, citing national security and commercial sensitivities.

"I can tell the House today that, after two years work, the black hole in the defence budget has finally been eliminated and the budget is now in balance," he announced in the House of Commons.

Implementing the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) of 2010, Mr Hammond has overseen a series of huge cuts to the Armed Forces including compulsory redundancies.

By 2015, the Royal Navy and the RAF will have lost 5,000 jobs each. The Army will have 7,000 fewer soldiers and the Ministry of Defence will have shed 25,000 civilian jobs.

Despite the announcement of the balanced books, there is still another tranche of redundancies to be implemented, though they have already been announced.

As part of that, there is a fear that some famous regiments could be scrapped or amalgamated with others.

Asked by the Shadow Defence Secretary and by Angus Robertson of the Scottish National Party to guarantee the future of all Scottish regiments, Mr Hammond refused, saying only that a future Army must be smaller, but that he values the regimental system and that an announcement would be made soon.

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