REBEL MP John Baron has blasted his own government’s cuts to the British Army as “incompetent”, warning dangerous groups like Isis are becoming more of a threat to the West.

Mr Baron, a former captain in the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, condemned the failure of both the Coalition and Labour leaderships to commit to a minimum of two per cent of the country’s gross domestic product to the defence budget.

The Tory backbencher for Basildon and Billericay blasted the cost-cutting Army 2020 plan to replace 20,000 regular soldiers with 30,000 trained reservists, saying just 500 new reservists were trained in two years.

Mr Baron spoke at the start of a debate on a motion endorsing the two per cent defence spending target, which is expected to be passed if the Government abstains, but has no legal force.

Mr Baron said: “We live in times of heightened international tensions.

"We would do well to remember the adage about defence being the first duty of government and we ignore the lessons of history at our peril.

“The world remains a dangerous and unstable place. A growing number of countries, not necessarily friendly to the West, are not only re-arming at quite an alarming rate, but are also becoming more assertive.”