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Fri 2 Jul 2004
Scots regiment to be axed despite warning to MoD
GETHIN CHAMBERLAIN
DEFENCE CORRESPONDENT
Key points
"¢ Royal Scots, army's oldest regiment, and Highlanders could be axed by 2006
"¢ MoD warned against dangerous cuts amid personnel shortage
"¢ Army review assumes reduced domestic and foreign commitments
Key quote
"A policy of reducing or restructuring existing forces in advance of acquiring new capabilities is potentially dangerous" - Commons defence committee report finding
Story in full AN ENTIRE Scottish regiment faces the axe in 2006 as part of sweeping changes in the way Britain's armed forces are organised.
Senior sources say the Royal Scots - the army's oldest regiment - and the Highlanders are most vulnerable, with a question mark still hanging over the future of the King's Own Scottish Borderers.
The Ministry of Defence is ready to make the cuts, which have been demanded by the Treasury, despite a warning yesterday from the Commons defence committee that plans to cut the numbers of tanks, warships and aircraft while awaiting the delivery of new and untested weapons was "potentially dangerous".
In a scathing report, the committee said that, while military planners were being seduced by hi-tech warfare, forces on the ground were operating at the limits of what they could achieve.
With sweeping cuts also expected to hit the RAF and the Royal Navy, the army has been warned that three other British regiments are also likely to be disbanded or absorbed into other units. The MoD is understood to be prepared to go through with the controversial plans despite severe manpower shortages in the army, which is short of about 5,000 soldiers.
The cuts follow a bitter argument between the military and the Treasury, which has been intent on slashing the defence budget.
Senior figures from Scotland's regiments have been summoned to Whitehall to discuss details of the plans. One report yesterday suggested that the meeting could take place as early as today, although the MoD said it was more likely to be early next week. Sources at the ministry warned that the regiments would not be receiving good news.
"It looks certain there are going to be cuts," the source said. "At least one Scottish regiment will go. There are others from other parts of the United Kingdom as well, but Scotland is going to be hit."
A separate source with access to the decision-making process said that, although cuts in the armed forces were a sensitive area, the MoD had insisted that the army had to be realistic.
"There is only so much money and, if the army is going to maintain its reputation around the world, then we have to take some tough decisions," the source said. "The details of how many battalions will have to go are about to be announced, but the reality is that Scotland is almost certainly going to have to lose one of its regiments by 2006."
Army sources said the final decision would not be taken immediately, but the Royal Scots and the Highlanders would be considered the most vulnerable.
Question marks have previously been raised about the future of the Black Watch and the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, but both are thought to have escaped the axe. The Black Watch is about to return to Iraq for the second time in two years, after a successful campaign during the invasion of the country when it was instrumental in capturing the second city of Basra. The Argylls are due to return after a tough assignment in the south of the country training the new police and civil defence forces and patrolling the southern parts of Iraq.
The future army structures review has been based on the assumption that there will be a drastic reduction in the commitment to Northern Ireland in coming years and a fall in the number of international commitments.
Planners believe they can manage with fewer infantry and heavy armoured forces, allowing money to be spent on specialists.
But those assumptions were challenged by the Commons defence committee, which warned that they were misjudged and failed to address reality.
It said: "A policy of reducing or restructuring existing forces in advance of acquiring new capabilities is potentially dangerous."