It's just more political rhetoric. Half the reason there are so many 'civilians' is that they're doing a lot of the jobs that used to be done by light blue, dark blue and khaki uniforms.
If it were that simple, it would have been done by now. One day the politicians might wake up and realise that we're just a little island off the NW coast of Europe and act accordingly - that'd cut a lot of costs. Falklands, independent nuclear deterrent etc etc
Not holding my breath though. I sympathise for those likely to be affected by yet another round of uncertainty.