James Arbuthnot: Disparity on MoD job losses 'bizarre'

The chairman of the defence select committee has said it is "bizarre" and "grotesquely unfair" that that 40% of armed forces redundancies have been compulsory, while no civilian staff have been forced out of a job.

James Arbuthnot's comments came as the committee queried whether the terms on offer to military personnel were "fair or appropriate" given the "shocking" difference.

It also said not enough was being done to retrain, rather than sack, troops.

Defence Minister Philip Hammond said the MPs were wrong and personnel were given "every opportunity" to retrain.

Some 11,000 servicemen and 25,000 civilian Ministry of Defence (MoD) staff are being made redundant as part of government efforts to deal with the £38bn black hole in the defence budget.