HighlandSniper58
29-07-04, 10:12
Regiments group plans to challenge Labour at election
IAN JOHNSTON - THE SCOTSMAN
A GROUP opposed to controversial plans to axe Scotland’s six infantry regiments yesterday vowed to fight Labour at the next general election.
The Save the Scottish Regiments campaign said it planned to field 13 candidates to give the Labour government a "bloody nose" for its "refusal to abandon these most unpopular and ill-conceived cuts to Scotland’s military units". The cuts are likely to mean the creation a single "super-regiment" of five battalions instead of the existing six battalions in separate regiments.
The candidates - many of them former servicemen and their families - will try to oust Labour MSPs and MPs from seats across the country, including that held by Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, in the next elections.
The campaign’s organiser, Jeff Duncan, said: "In an ideal world, it would be fantastic for one of our candidates to win.
"But our message is quite clear: if you’re a Labour voter and are sick to the back teeth of everything Labour has done, particularly this latest lunacy in trying to cut regiments when we need everyone we can get out there, vote for our candidates, deplete Labour’s share and leave the way open for the strongest opposition to win."
The 20-strong group is to target seats where Labour either has a small majority or is hoping to replace the sitting member, mainly in areas home to Scottish regiment bases.
They include the Western Isles, Inverness, Moray, Aberdeen North, Aberdeen South, Dundee East, Dundee West, Edinburgh Pentlands, Edinburgh South, Ochil and South Perthshire, and Stirling.
Save the Scottish Regiments - which is not linked to any political party or regiment - is campaigning against the most radical defence restructuring in a generation.
Announced last week by Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, the plans include axing one historic Scots regiment and merging the others into one or two larger, multi- battalion regiments.
All of Scotland’s six infantry regiments are single-battalion regiments and include some of the most famous names in British military history, such as the Black Watch.
Mr Duncan, a former RAF serviceman, was confident the drive against the reorganisation would prove fruitful.
"There will come a point of no return," he said. "If there’s no change in the final announcement in November and the government’s view is business as usual, I’m optimistic we’ll be in a fantastic position, if current support is anything to go by.
"It’s really having a snowball effect. It’s self-generating, so I’m confident we’re going to put a huge dent in the Labour vote."
The campaign is hoping for support from senior serving officers, despite a gagging order imposed on them by the Ministry of Defence.
Douglas Connon, a former commanding officer of the Highlanders and now a trustee of the regiment, said the Council of Scottish Colonels had accepted the situation and would not make any public protest about the cuts.
He said: "I understand the Council of Scottish Colonels are in broad agreement about the requirement to move to a single large regiment in Scotland.
"But they are pretty keen to find out what the serving soldiers want and to retain as much of the six regiments as possible."
IAN JOHNSTON - THE SCOTSMAN
A GROUP opposed to controversial plans to axe Scotland’s six infantry regiments yesterday vowed to fight Labour at the next general election.
The Save the Scottish Regiments campaign said it planned to field 13 candidates to give the Labour government a "bloody nose" for its "refusal to abandon these most unpopular and ill-conceived cuts to Scotland’s military units". The cuts are likely to mean the creation a single "super-regiment" of five battalions instead of the existing six battalions in separate regiments.
The candidates - many of them former servicemen and their families - will try to oust Labour MSPs and MPs from seats across the country, including that held by Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, in the next elections.
The campaign’s organiser, Jeff Duncan, said: "In an ideal world, it would be fantastic for one of our candidates to win.
"But our message is quite clear: if you’re a Labour voter and are sick to the back teeth of everything Labour has done, particularly this latest lunacy in trying to cut regiments when we need everyone we can get out there, vote for our candidates, deplete Labour’s share and leave the way open for the strongest opposition to win."
The 20-strong group is to target seats where Labour either has a small majority or is hoping to replace the sitting member, mainly in areas home to Scottish regiment bases.
They include the Western Isles, Inverness, Moray, Aberdeen North, Aberdeen South, Dundee East, Dundee West, Edinburgh Pentlands, Edinburgh South, Ochil and South Perthshire, and Stirling.
Save the Scottish Regiments - which is not linked to any political party or regiment - is campaigning against the most radical defence restructuring in a generation.
Announced last week by Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, the plans include axing one historic Scots regiment and merging the others into one or two larger, multi- battalion regiments.
All of Scotland’s six infantry regiments are single-battalion regiments and include some of the most famous names in British military history, such as the Black Watch.
Mr Duncan, a former RAF serviceman, was confident the drive against the reorganisation would prove fruitful.
"There will come a point of no return," he said. "If there’s no change in the final announcement in November and the government’s view is business as usual, I’m optimistic we’ll be in a fantastic position, if current support is anything to go by.
"It’s really having a snowball effect. It’s self-generating, so I’m confident we’re going to put a huge dent in the Labour vote."
The campaign is hoping for support from senior serving officers, despite a gagging order imposed on them by the Ministry of Defence.
Douglas Connon, a former commanding officer of the Highlanders and now a trustee of the regiment, said the Council of Scottish Colonels had accepted the situation and would not make any public protest about the cuts.
He said: "I understand the Council of Scottish Colonels are in broad agreement about the requirement to move to a single large regiment in Scotland.
"But they are pretty keen to find out what the serving soldiers want and to retain as much of the six regiments as possible."