In a move that will surely have military strategists reaching for a strong cup of tea, the British army has been ordered to suspend non-essential training exercises in a bid to save the nation a few quid. Because nothing says 'ready for anything' like a year off from tank drills.

Troops preparing for deployment, currently on deployments, on standby, or in quick-reaction roles will continue their training as normal. But for the rest of the UK-based units, collective training exercises are being shelved for most of this year, thanks to budget pressures that are apparently squeezing the Ministry of Defence like a vice.

Among the casualties are exercises involving tanks and Apache helicopters, according to reports from the Times and BBC. Because who needs to practice driving a 70-tonne metal beast when you can just wing it?

The army didn't deny the cuts, instead insisting that a training regime informed by lessons from the Ukraine conflict - including drone warfare and modernisation - is being prioritised. An army spokesperson said: 'Our training continues and we are prioritising activity that contributes most directly to readiness, deployability and operational effectiveness. We are also investing £2bn to transform training for the British army over the next 15 years.'

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Andy Burnham is under pressure to increase defence spending to 3% of national income by 2030, and 3.5% by 2035. At Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, Tan Singh Dhesi, chair of the Commons defence select committee and Labour MP, urged Burnham to 'urgently commit to charting a pathway to reaching 3% of GDP spend on defence by 2030 which, as his chancellor rightly noted, is critical to keeping our country safe.' Dhesi also delivered the devastating put-down that 'vibes alone just isn’t going to be enough' when it comes to funding the armed forces.

The defence investment plan (Dip) outlines spending rising to 2.7% of GDP by 2027/28, but beyond that, it's all a bit hazy. The Treasury has promised to set out plans for reaching 3% and 3.5% at the spending review next year.

In a twist that would make a soap opera blush, Chancellor John Healey resigned from Keir Starmer's government as defence secretary in June, protesting the then-PM's failure to adequately fund defence. Now in his new role at No. 11 Downing Street, Healey has decided he'll wait until next year's spending review before presenting a plan to meet Labour's pledge of 3.5% of GDP by 2035. He'll present his first budget on 28 October, and needs to find approximately £1.4bn a year over the next three years to pay for Starmer's defence investment plan - the very plan Healey derided as inadequate in his previous job. Ah, politics: where yesterday's criticism is today's homework.