FWIW, I shall continue to be the resident naysayer until all the details are in - I'm afraid I have to agree with Kitbag, Hangarshuffle et al.
This was a very pleasant announcement for a PM who has to sound strong in the midst of a global terrorist crisis and a foreign policy quagmire. Remember we were told before the election that the equipment budget would increase, but nothing about the personnel budget.
If the intent is for the Army not to drop below 82,000 under any circumstance, if SF and the Intelligence Agencies are having a huge (relative to their size) pile of cash thrown at them but the Chancellor still wants to save money, those savings will have to come from somewhere. I still haven't seen a formal breakdown of how we will meet the 2% NATO target going forward, so cynic in me thinks they are going to try and role bits of SIA and DFID funding into it by conflating Defence and hard power with Security and soft power.
Note there was no mention of pay and Ts&Cs today, clearly not the purview of a Strategic Review lest they be accused of a cuts driven review. But if they cut increments, if allowances are revamped (with a move to 5 yr tours and increasing stability I'd wager CEA and HTD look shaky) and if training budgets are cut, we still run the risk of having lots of new kit and insufficient people to operate it. I sincerely hope I'm wrong, but I've seen too much spin over the years not to look for the googlie when you least expect it.
Last edited by Melchett01; 23rd Nov 2015 at 20:46.