Black Watch

Part of Prayers – in the House of Commons am 12:30 pm ar 28 Hydref 1998.

Danfonwch hysbysiad imi am ddadleuon fel hyn

Photo of Roseanna Cunningham Roseanna Cunningham Scottish National Party, Perth 12:30, 28 Hydref 1998

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, for the opportunity to raise this important national and constituency issue on the Floor of the House. With the Minister's agreement, I shall restrict my comments to allow my hon. Friend the Member for North Tayside (Mr. Swinney) to speak.

The Black Watch Territorial Army Battalion, which has its headquarters in Perth and which recruits widely throughout Perthshire, Angus and Fife, is the volunteer arm of one of the most distinguished regiments in our armed forces. I understand that it was raised in 1746, so it is also one of the oldest. The House may recall that the Black Watch regulars were the regiment that oversaw the lowering of the union jack over Hong Kong last year. It is my hope, of course, that the regiment and its full complement of volunteers will be present at the raising of the saltire at the independence ceremonies for Scotland in a few years' time.

Hon. Members will be aware of the broad thrust of the proposals for the Territorial Army throughout the United Kingdom and in Scotland—a cut of some 30 per cent. across the UK, but, I am informed, a fall of some 47 per cent. in the highlands. However, we have been left in the dark about the impact on individual TA battalions and companies.

Before the recess, the Government assured the House that consultation on future TA deployment would take place over the summer, and that an announcement would be made in the autumn. That announcement, as I understand it, has been delayed. My information is that we are unlikely to hear the fate of our individual TA units until December. That is an appalling way to treat the volunteers. Will the Minister please explain the reasons for the delay? One conclusion is that it is intended to delay the news until just before Christmas, in the hope that the bad news will be swamped by the seasonal preparations.

If the Minister departs from his prepared response in only one area today, I hope that he will do so to answer the following questions. Has he personally seen the Army's recommendations on the TA? Does his Department have a copy of those recommendations? If the answer to either of those questions is yes, when did he or his Department receive the recommendations? What is the reason for any delay in the final announcement? Can he today give us a date for the publication of the final details of the TA cuts? Over the past few days, I have spoken to many members of the Territorial Army at every level. They, too, have asked those questions, and it is insulting to them that the Government are not coming clean with the proposals right now.

What is most demeaning, and what has caused almost 300 volunteers in the highlands to leave the TA over the summer, is the fact that the likely outcome of the so-called review seems clear. Those men know that their battalions are facing large cuts and loss of identity, so there is little incentive for them to remain in them.

It appears that, in my area, the Black Watch will be merged with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders TA and the Highlanders TA, with the Black Watch reduced to one company and the others possibly escaping with two each. The Black Watch cap badges will remain, the red hackles may still be there, but, when that cap badge covers a company of as few as 100 men, that can be seen as little more than a sop.

In my area, it is hoped that Perth itself will retain the battalion headquarters, but information suggests that it is likely that the Black Watch TA presence will go from Forfar and Kirkcaldy—two of the most modern TA centres in the country. That at Forfar opened as recently as this year, at a cost of £800,000, and that at Kirkcaldy was renovated three years ago, at a cost of more than £2 million. If Kirkcaldy goes, it will be an end to the infantry presence in Fife. I do not consider that a saving; it seems more like a scandalous waste.

Overall, the Black Watch TA is bracing itself for a cut of some 69 per cent. in its complement—a loss of some 150 men. In 1995, the Black Watch alone of the highland regiments had its complement cut. Perhaps the Minister will explain why it seems to have been singled out for such draconian measures.

The current cuts are reflected elsewhere in Scotland and the UK. Obviously, I cannot stray too far from the subject of the debate, but hon. Members will appreciate that my comments on the Black Watch are intended as an illustration of a wider problem. This is not only a plea for the Government to change their mind on the Black Watch, but for them to rethink the whole review of the TA and to ensure that Scotland maintains a minimum complement of 7,000 volunteers.

The Minister is likely to argue that times have changed, and that volunteers do not play the role that they used to in our national defence. He may wax lyrical about the potency of Trident, rapid deployment forces and large aircraft carriers in allowing the UK to project its supposed might worldwide, but in my view such arguments are akin to a mid-life crisis, bringing to mind the man who craves the roar of a Ferrari when he needs a good four-wheel drive vehicle. This analysis does not take into account the real impact and importance of the Black Watch and the other TA battalions.

The Minister must consider two points. First, it is clear from the strategic defence review that the role of the armed forces has switched more heavily toward rapid deployment overseas and away from defence of the home territory. That is a strategic judgment, but in so reconfiguring the regulars he has left a role for the volunteers—home defence—which should mean keeping the TA units at current strength instead of slashing them. The Black Watch and the other battalions are the framework around which a home defence force can be raised. The Government's proposals threaten to turn that framework into a skeleton. That is not only my view, but that of senior members of the TA, to whom I have spoken in recent days and weeks.

Secondly, the Ministry of Defence recognises that the Territorial Army will play an increasing role, alongside the regulars, in some overseas deployments. I believe that about 10 per cent. of current UK forces in Bosnia are volunteers, providing additional skills to complement the regulars. Obviously, if the TA is cut, the burden of those duties will fall on a smaller number of increasingly demoralised volunteers. Is the Minister confident that the cream of the TA battalions will remain in service when their battalion identities are destroyed, and when recruitment areas are being cut? In the Black Watch area, the cuts will effectively mean freezing out Fife and Angus. Is the Minister confident that employers will be happy to see their staff called away increasingly often and bearing the additional burdens imposed by the cuts? Is he confident that he can find 1,500 volunteers for Bosnia from a pool of 40,000 men, when I am told that it is difficult enough to do so from a pool of 60,000?

The Territorial Army is, by its very name, a territorial body. Has the Minister forgotten that Scotland covers more than a quarter of the UK land mass? Surely there is an unanswerable case for that land mass, and the highlands in particular, to retain territorial units. There is no reason why the Black Watch should suffer a cut of twice the UK average. There must be a rethink on the deployment of volunteer engineers in Scotland. Although that matter is not directly related to the Black Watch, I should say that my hon. Friend the Member for Moray (Mrs. Ewing) has been pressing for the retention of the two units in her constituency. Recent floods across the country should serve as reminder enough of the role that such units can play in such community and natural disasters. When the River Tay flooded in Perth in the early 1990s, the local infantry TA made a major contribution.

Finally, I want the Minister to consider the impact of the proposed cuts on my area and on communities throughout the country. It has been estimated that the economic loss throughout the UK from the slashing of 20,000 volunteers will be some £50 million. In Perthshire, Angus and Fife, the cuts could result in as much as £400,000 being removed from the local economies. They will result in fewer opportunities for young people in the towns most likely to lose their TA centres. They will impact on the recruitment of Army cadets. The two battalions of cadets in the Black Watch area will undoubtedly be affected by a loss of more than 60 per cent. in the manpower of their main source of military support. Given that much Regular Army recruitment comes from those serving in the TA, we may find an even bigger recruitment problem a few years down the line.

The Territorial Army takes up a mere 2 per cent. of the UK defence budget. That 2 per cent. provides a skills base for the regular forces, a pool of troops for overseas deployment, a link with local communities and a framework for home defence. That is money well spent, when other parts of the defence budget are being wasted on resources such as the unusable Trident nuclear system.

My plea to the Minister is to take heed of his short-sighted TA cuts in the Black Watch and the other volunteer battalions and invest in the backbone of our national defence, not in the grandiose delusions of nuclear power.