Home Secretary Amber Rudd admits Army faces huge squaddies shortage as it struggles to recruit and retain soldiers

BRITAIN faces a huge challenge recruiting and retain enough squaddies for the Army – Home Secretary Amber Rudd admitted yesterday.

And the Tory high-flyer claimed it “wasn’t obvious” what to do to bring in new people.

She told a cross-party group of peers and MPs the issue was now of her “primary concerns” when it came to national security.

The comments came as the Home Secretary separately admitted that the plunging Pound could blow a hole in Britain’s defence spending.

The size of the regular Army at the end of 2016 was 80,640 – against an aim of 82,000. The Government was also short in its target of 30,000 reservists.

Ms Rudd – chair of a National Security Committee implementing the strategic defence review – yesterday said the economy was one reason behind the shortfall as there were lots of available jobs.

She said: “We know that the recruitment for reserves and for maintaining the army at 82,000 is a challenging and ambitious target. It’s one of my primary concerns.

“The defence secretary is completely aware of that and we have plans which he has set out for me on how to improve retention, how to improve recruitment.

“It’s not obvious how to attract the best people we have put in place initiatives such as more family friendly regulations. But it’s one area where we do have concerns.”

Grilled on the effects of the lower Pound, Ms Rudd added that it could clobber Britain’s purchasing power. She said the Ministry of Defence was protected over the next two years by a ‘hedge’ guarding against currency fluctuations.

Tory backbencher Crispin Blunt said Sterling’s 15 per cent fall since the Brexit vote could “blow current assumptions out of the water”.

Ms Rudd said: “It won’t impact us immediately but it’s something we are very aware of. It could impact us in two years if it’s in the same place as we will have a situation where purchasing power is down by 15 per cent.”