The thin veil of "civilised" society

[Mortblanc]

Actually BP, the British do not have the nature for rebellion. Those small "ineffective armies" have always been able to put down any local insurrection with very little trouble. When was the last time you had a real smack down on the Big Island?

A 100,000 man army and a sudden conscription and arming of the local police forces could easily manage the reduced population your demanded die off would provide.

And the military, as small as it might seem, would be better situated to survive the "die off" than the general population. They would quickly secure their areas, live off stockpiled supplies and operate out of those secure bases to control the population and collect resources.

What you should watch out for among the general population id the influx of Romanian, Bosnian, Serbian, Croatian and mid eastern immigrants that still remember how to fight a guerilla war and consider the British population less than a threat.