- plenty of this going around at the moment - even seen a few articles that suggest getting the FA-18E/F - pretty sure even a navalised Typhoon will be ahead of this if they went for the 2nd rate pants option.
The UK is no longer in recesion, the banks have all announced massive profits, and the only reason David Cameron keeps telling us we are in dire strights is so he can blame Labour for the state of things (its called spin).
There may be a few cuts - but I expect to see the F-35s for definate.
As for numbers - in 1914 you needed about 50 planes to take out a few targets - currently you need 1 with a few PGMs. Back then you also had to counter the attrition rate of those old box kites.
On the air attack side they need to be able to deal with any other AF in range and deal with the Falklands. Admittedly a massed swarm of Al quaeda Airliners might reveal some shortcomings!