Once numbers go down, the chances of them going back up again are very slim. The government will simply decide that if we could do without them before, we can do without them in the future. With regards to the consequences of cuts, politicians don't care because they don't suffer the consequences. If a few thousand British troops die because they send them out on ships without AEW or on land without the right armoured support for that theatre, then they make some nice gestures and some nice sounding statements and they are off the hook. Ultimately its a balance of cost savings vs casualties, and the PM and his family are unlikely to be one of those casalties, but if you are a marine or soldier you might well be