The key recommendations.

THE Demos report recommends defence spending be shifted from hitech military hardware to improving the welfare of personnel.

It also calls for more concentration on defending the UK from terrorism and natural disaster, rather than overseas expeditions with "contestable" benefits to homeland security.

The key recommendations are:

1. To improve public understanding about the kind of missions and risk that serving men and women face in modern warfare.

2. A total review of the organisation of the Ministry of Defence and the role of the armed forces to make sure there is a fit with the new national security strategy based on current threats and risks.

3. Sustained effort to repair the "Military Covenant" between service personnel, their families and the nation.

4. A wider debate about the true costs of the expeditionary warfare that has become the cornerstone of UK defence policy. A public debate about the security benefits this provides.

5. Far greater prominence and support for domestic roles of counter terrorism, responding to national disaster and homeland defence for UK armed forces.

6. More attention to pay, terms, housing and conditions for serving men and women, above the acquisition of expensive, hi-tech military equipment.