Government retreats on Territorial Army cuts

By Tim Castle

LONDON (Reuters) - The government staged a tactical retreat on Monday over planned cutbacks in training for its volunteer reserve Territorial Army, but failed to satisfy the Conservatives who called its policy a "shambles."

A proposed 20 million pound cut in the volunteer force's training budget had threatened to escalate into a major political row.

The "TA" is seen as a vital element of British forces, its 29,000 members comprising just under a third of the Army's full manpower.

Some 540 TA personnel are currently serving in Afghanistan as part of Britain's 9,000-strong contingent fighting Taliban insurgents.

But the rising cost of the Afghan conflict -- costing more than 3 billion pounds this year -- has put the Army under pressure to find savings away from the front line.

It also faces extra costs caused by a boost in recruitment in the face of the economic recession, with new Army entrants up by 1,000 this year

The Army had proposed suspending all but pre-deployment training for TA volunteers preparing to go to Afghanistan to save 20 million pounds this year.

But following protests Armed Forces Minister Bill Rammell said the government had decided to fund a limited amount of regular training for all TA volunteers, reducing the cutback by 2.5 million pounds this year to pay for one training night a month.