SOUTH Dorset MP Richard Drax has demanded a rethink on Government's defence cuts.

He spoke against the spending plans during a Commons motion calling for a u-turn on the decision to cut the 2nd Regiment Royal Fusiliers (2RRF).

Mr Drax, who is a former soldier, said: “The priority should be to defend our country and her people.

“Our priorities are wrong.”

“Throwing money at the Soviet-style bureaucracy that some people call the EU and at foreign aid to states that practise genocide is utter madness at a time when we are cutting our armed services.”

He added: “It is clear to me that the defence spending review was carried out by accountants, not according to military logic.”

“Consequently, we now find ourselves making decisions for political expediency.

“As a former soldier, I find that shameful.”

The motion was brought to the Commons by Conservative MP John Baron, a former member of 2RRF.

Mr Drax spent nine years in the Coldstream Guards before becoming a journalist and then South Dorset MP.