He says the choice facing the Ministry of Defence is stark, and will reshape the UK's Armed Forces in one of two ways: either producing balanced Armed Forces able to undertake a broad range of tasks and commitments, as in the past, or forces which specialise, but lose their broader capabilities.

BBC: Coalition's difficulties in defence

Mr Speaker, the foundation of our approach is to maintain strong, balanced, flexible and deployable armed forces.

BBC: In full: Brown security statement