A row has erupted over unconfirmed 'plans' to dismantle the world-famous Scottish battalion, the Black Watch as part of a new round of defence cuts.
Reports that the famed regiment is in the firing line come after it it was suggested the Army could be slashed by a quarter, Royal Marines commando brigade would be disbanded, airfields shut and helicopters taken out out of service, with resources redirected into cyber-warfare, space and artificial intelligence.
Defence minister Johnny Mercer moved in July to quash reports that the armed forces are bracing themselves for further cuts.
But the SNP have moved to object to reports over the 'proposals' for the Black Watch describing them as a "serious betrayal of those who served".
Some 500 personnel from 3 SCOTS are currently based at Fort George, near Inverness. Their primary recruiting areas have been in Fife, Dundee, Angus and Perth and Kinross.
Concerns first arose in July over reports Boris Johnson was planning to cut the British Army by a quarter and reduce the Royal Marines.
Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Jane Dodds said reported plans to “gut” army manpower from 74,000 to 55,000 would “diminish” the UK’s “standing on the world stage” and “jeopardise” Britain’s place in NATO.
The Black Watch was spared in the 2012 army shake-up.
After reports surfaced on Monday, SNP defence spokesperson Stewart McDonald MP went on the attack.
He said “To dismantle this ancient regiment would be a serious betrayal of all who serve and who have served in the past.
“It would be unconscionable for any government to scrap the historic Black Watch and it would fly in the face of the promises made to the Scottish people, and those Scots serving in the armed forces, during the independence referendum - a promise that the government is already falling far short of.
“No Defence Secretary worth their salt would even consider signing this off and I expect Ben Wallace to signal that at the earliest opportunity.”
A report in the Sunday Times in July suggested defence chiefs had drawn up plans to slash personnel numbers across the Royal Marines and British Army in Prime Minister's Boris Johnson's next defence and security review.
A 'worst-case scenario' list was drawn up in the troubling new article which suggested army 'manpower' would plummet from 74,000 to 55,000 and the Royal Marines commando brigade would be 'disbanded', losing its artillery, engineers and landing craft.
But Mr Mercer - appointed by Boris Johnson to work under defence secretary Ben Wallace - said at the time that there was no truth to the report whatsoever.
The Ministry of Defence in the summer was in the 'early stage' of the defence spend review - which was placed on ice earlier this year amid the outbreak of coronavirus.
The bulk of the Integrated Review, which is regarded as the biggest assessment of the country’s foreign policy since the end of the Cold War, was due to be completed later this year, with recommendations implemented over several years.
Eleven days ago, defence secretary Ben Wallace told Parliament that the government was still assessing the implications of scrapping the multi-year spending review.
MPs and experts have expressed concern that only funding the Ministry of Defence (MOD) for a year would further postpone long-awaited spending decisions and add to a black hole in the department’s modernisation budget.
Mr Wallace told MPs: “The government announced on October 21 that they will conduct a one-year spending review for 2021-22. The implications of that decision for the integrated review are currently being considered. The government will provide an update to Parliament once this has been decided.”
Labour’s Shadow defence minister John Healey criticised the confusion around the state of the review, saying: “Is it not the regrettable truth that the Chancellor has cut the ground from under the Defence Secretary and our British forces? The Secretary of State rightly said that previous Tory defence reviews have “failed because they were never in step with the spending plans”.
“They were a cover for cuts, which is why our armed forces are nearly 12,000 short of the strength promised in the 2015 review; essential equipment, from new tanks to the new radar system protecting our aircraft carrier, is long overdue; and the defence budget has a £13 billion black hole. A fully-fledged, fully funded strategic defence and security review is needed now more than ever. What does he say about the failure to deliver on that?”
Mr Wallace repliced saying that “no one has said yet that the integrated review will be delayed or curtailed” but added that the government was ‘studying’ the implications a one-year spending review would have.
The MoD have been approached for comment.
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