A powerful group of British MPs has strongly criticized cuts in the country's army, navy and air force as "grotesque" in a report published on Wednesday.

In their annual report on military financing, the MPs criticized the decision to make redundant up to 15,000 soldiers, sailors, and air force personnel, some of whom had fought in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"The stark and shocking differences between redundancies in the Ministry of Defense (MOD) require an exceptionally persuasive explanation," said James Arbuthnot, chairman of the House of Commons Defense Select Committee.

The MPs were especially angered by the contrast between the compulsory redundancies for the service personnel, and the voluntary redundancy scheme for civilian personnel working for the MOD.

"We are shocked that 40 per cent of the redundancies of armed forces personnel were compulsory whereas all those of civil servants have been voluntary," the report said.

In the meantime, the MPs also wanted better redundancy terms for armed forces personnel.

"The MOD should consider whether the terms of redundancy offered to either the military or civilian staff are fair or appropriate in the light of the stark and shocking difference between the application of compulsion in redundancy to the two branches of service in the M0D," the report read.

It also strongly criticized the MOD for poor accounting, and failing to comply "with international reporting standards on the treatment of some contracts."

According to the report, some 5.2 billion pounds (about 8.1 billion U.S. dollars) worth of military equipment was unaccounted for due to bad auditing practices.

British Defense Secretary Philip Hammond had said "every opportunity" was being given to military personnel to be retrain for other forces roles or in civilian life, but added that "the simple fact is we have to tackle the massive deficit we inherited and the huge black hole in the defense budget."

Further cuts in military personnel look almost certain, as a result of weakened economic recovery in Britain.

British finance minister George Osborne had downgraded Britain's growth for 2011 to just 0.7 percent and 0.9 percent for 2012 in his autumn economic statement.

Data released on Wednesday also showed the British economy had declined in the last quarter of 2011 by 0.2 percent.