Senior military chiefs from Paris have offered Britain’s Royal Marines access to their warships to ensure the UK’s elite Commandoes can continue to train and run joint deployments from their three amphibious ships.

A French official told the Financial Times: “We have three very capable ships. 

“The idea is that in the case of one of the two countries having to reduce certain capabilities because of the budgetary constraints we could mitigate the consequences by standing shoulder to shoulder.” 

The offer comes as Theresa May’s Government looks to scrap Britain’s two landing ships, HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark, and reduce the Royal Marines by 1,000 personnel as part of a sweeping defence review. 

The French offer is part of the combined UK and French joint expeditionary force, part of the Lancaster House treaty agreed in 2010. 

But some critics have warned the offer might be part of Paris’ plan to build a European defence force. 

Tory MP, Julian Lewis, said: “It’s fine we should align our sea-based forces. 

“It’s another matter to abandon our own ability to send land forces from the sea. The idea the UK should lose that capability is totally unacceptable.”

Speculation about defence cuts have increased recently since the launch of a review led by Mrs May's national security adviser Mark Sedwill.

The scale of proposed cutbacks in the Army, navy and air force have created alarm within the MoD and poses a major headache for the new defence secretary, Gavin Williamson.

Some 20 Conservative backbenchers have threatened to rebel if further cuts are made to the number of Royal Marines.

The threat comes as proposals emerged, which could see the Army reduced to 70,000 people.

The UK’s Ministry of Defence said: “In the face of intensifying threats, we are contributing to the cross-Government review of national security capabilities and looking at how we best spend our rising defence budget to protect our country. No decisions have yet been made.”