LONDON (AFP) -- British defense officials and ministers are considering cutting up to 6,000 jobs in the army because of budget constraints, The Daily Telegraph reported on Monday.

According to the newspaper, which cited details emailed to it by a source within the Ministry of Defense, the MoD and the finance ministry were going through ""considerable"" conflict over the details of the latest government Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR).
An unidentified source told the Telegraph that the ""deal being cut might well result in force levels, people or equipment being cut.""
""So we could see cuts in army numbers of anything up to 6,000 or further cuts in aircraft numbers.""
The CSR allocated annual increases in defense spending of 1.5 percent above inflation from 2008 to 2011, and, coupled with commitments to buy two aircraft carriers at a cost of four billion pounds (5.7 billion euros, 8.1 billion dollars), has reportedly forced the MoD to actively look for savings elsewhere.
""There are no plans to reduce the size of the army,"" an MoD spokesman was quoted as saying by the Telegraph.
""This CSR settlement sees the continuation of the longest period of sustained real terms growth in planned defense spending since the 1980s and will see substantial investment in the army, building on the investment we have already put in.""
Monday's report comes a day after the Telegraph's Sunday sister paper reported that MoD officials had put together proposals that would dramatically reduce the Royal Navy's fleet.