Biggus
The same sort of conditions apply to the Police who are also prevented by law from taking "industrial action".
You will doubtless recall that the Fire & Rescue Services DO take "industrial action" (regularly during my years of service) in support of pay claims. Their duties then devolve onto the Armed Forces with Police support.
mgd
You are missing the important omission from his statement - which is that 10 years ago the Armed Forces had just completed 2 major redundancy schemes which "trimmed" the Armed Forces by more than the quoted deficit.
Last edited by cazatou; 13th Jul 2008 at 13:04.