Army cuts 'particularly savage' in England

06 July 2012

The restructuring of the British Army has had a "particularly savage" effect on the army in England, former army Colonel and Conservative MP Bob Stewart has said.

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond outlined Army 2020 restructuring plans in Parliament on 5 July, including the merging or disbanding of some 23 army units as some 20,000 soldiers are cut in coming years.

Stewart, who sits on the Defence Select Committee, said the loss of infantry battalions and other units had seemed focused on old English county regiments, particularly since Scotland was not losing any regiments.

"This is difficult, and will impact on the regimental system," said Stewart. "English county regiments are meant to be linked to counties, but they are being dislocated, whereas Scottish regiments still have the regimental system. From now on, we will have a two-tier regimental system."

The Defence Secretary responded by saying that he recognised "the importance of the affiliations of individual units to regions and nations of the UK, particularly for recruiting" and intended to maintain the regimental system.

Shadow Defence Secretary Jim Murphy said the withdrawal of battalions such as the Green Howards (2 Yorks) and Staffords (3 Mercian) meant their "historic identities" would be lost.

"In Wales, there is a pyrrhic victory in saving a cap badge, but losing 600 people," said Murphy. "The Argylls [5 Scots] are being reduced to guarding castles and being the backdrop to Japanese tourists' photographs."

Hammond later said that reducing the size of battalions in order to preserve names was considered but would have created a "tremendous inefficiency".

"It would have created a top-heavy structure with, proportionately, a large amount of expenditure going on administration," he said.

Conservative Peter Tapsell said Army 2020 was "an echo of the Geddes axe statement of the 1920s, for which the country, Europe and the rest of the world ultimately paid a very heavy price".

Asked by Tapsell if the UK would be able to raise 1 million troops within a year in the case of a strategic shock, Hammond said that that would not be easy but that plans for quick expansion did exist.

"One design parameter we set for the Army 2020 exercise is that the army should be able to regenerate capacity if, at a point in the future, the strategic context demands it and the fiscal situation permits it," said Hammond. "The army, in designing Army 2020, has held that very much to the front of its consideration."

Liberal Democrat Bob Russell said that the cuts meant Hammond would "go down in history as the man who hammered the Army".

Outside Parliament, UK National Defence Association director Andy Smith said the cuts were "dangerous" and "an admission by the government that we are can no longer play an influential role on the world stage".

"As British interests are worldwide, and we still aspire to be 'a force for good in the world', making 20,000 soldiers redundant and leaving us with little more than a 'home defence force' is the height of folly. This is a decision that ministers will live to regret."