Jobless young adults should be pushed towards the Armed Forces to help solve its drastic manpower shortage instead of being paid to do nothing, a former senior officer has suggested.

Major General Tim Cross said that people classed as Neets - not in employment, education or training - should be given the opportunity to serve their country instead of getting benefits. 

Official figures showed a staggering 957,000 people aged 16 to 24 were in this category in the final three months of last year.

That was up from 946,000 in the previous quarter and equivalent to around one in eight from the age group - with unemployment blamed for the uptick. 

Some 510,000 were young men and 448,000 were women.

It comes as the British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force struggle to attract enough new recruits. 

Speaking to Times Radio Gen Cross, 74, who served in Northern Ireland and helped plan the invasion of Iraq, said: ''We are short of soldiers, sailors and airmen. 

'What are we doing paying these youngsters welfare money when we could be saying to them: 'You're going to join the military'?'

He added that he did not back compulsory conscription but military service should be part of a national service programme.

It comes as the government faces major questions about the readiness of the Armed Forces to fight a war.

Another former general, General Sir Richard Barrons, last month warned the British Army has ben left so depleted by years of cuts and declining troop levels that it would only be able to take a small market town - on a good day.

He added that  UK land forces would be unable to do anything 'substantial' in a war and would only be able to help out with small tasks in operations led by the US or Nato.

Lord Robertson of Port Ellen claimed the UK is underprepared for war and ministers are unwilling to make the necessary investment.

The former Labour defence secretary warned 'we cannot defend Britain with an ever-expanding welfare budget' in a speech on Tuesday.

Rachel Reeves has been accused of resisting pressure to fill an estimated £28billion black hole in budgets over the next four years. 

Instead she is said to be insisting that the Treasury can only afford £10billion of extra funding, leaving the Ministry of Defence scrambling to find cuts and efficiencies.

The wrangling comes despite Lord Robertson adding his voice to warnings that Britain has been left in 'peril' by the lack of investment in the armed forces.

After Ms Reeves scrapped the two-child benefit cap and dropped efforts to curb spiralling handouts, the peer said the 'cold reality of today's dangerous world is that we cannot defend Britain with an ever-expanding welfare budget'.

Two other Labour former defence secretaries have criticised the Government. 

Geoff Hoon said that Lord Robertson's public intervention showed something had gone 'seriously wrong'. 

Lord Hutton said the issue was the 'defining moment' in Sir Keir's premiership, saying he has 'a very, very short period of time to start putting this right'.

Defence Secretary John Healey is believed to be pushing for more than £10billion extra over the next four years, pointing to the increasing demands on the military from tensions with Russia and chaos in the Middle East. 

Ms Reeves has already imposed more than £75billion a year worth of tax rises on Brits.

But that has been eaten up by the slowing economy, more benefits, big public sector pay awards and higher debt interest costs.   

A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: 'We are delivering on the strategic defence review to meet the threats we face, adopting a whole-of-society approach to increase national warfighting readiness and build national resilience.'