A former defence minister has fired warnings about resources for military police amid a dramatic drop in fraud investigations into armed forces personnel.
The number of regulars serving in the three service police branches has fallen by 541 since 2010 – equivalent to 18% of the total number today.
Further figures released to Parliament show the Ministry of Defence (MoD) Police, which provides specialist policing at various sensitive MoD sites across the UK, has had its budget cut by a quarter over the same timeframe.
These cuts have coincided with a sharp decline in the number of fraud investigations.
In 2010 there were 226 armed forces personnel investigated for fraud, resulting in 28 convictions.
Last year, these figures had dropped to 81 investigations and 10 convictions.
An MoD spokesman said the drop in fraud cases was good news, adding that the service police were still well resourced.
But Labour MP Kevan Jones said: “We know that since the Government came to power £46 million has been wiped from the MoD Police budget.
“Ministers should say if they've ordered officers to turn a blind eye to incidences of fraud within the armed forces and explain the record low rate of investigations and convictions.”
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