IAN BRUCE,
Defence Correspondent
Glasgow Herald
23 August 2005
CAMPAIGNERS fighting to save Scotland's merger-threatened infantry regiments are to launch a parliamentary petition in Edinburgh today calling for a comprehensive defence review as recruitment north of the border continues to slump.
Sir Malcolm Rifkind, Sir Menzies Campbell and Alex Salmond will sign first outside the Scottish Parliament as representatives of three of the major Westminster parties, before MSPs are invited to follow suit.
The petition, expected to attract tens of thousands of signatures, also urges the government to rethink last year's cost-driven decision to axe four infantry battalions and amalgamate the Scottish regiments.
The army's recruitment crisis in Scotland is deepening steadily at a time when senior officers are already struggling to rally support for the proposed new "super-regiment" north of the border.
Only 11 Scottish recruits left the army's Catterick Infantry Training depot to join Scottish battalions in June, compared with 65 in the same month last year, and 68 in June 2002, according to figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
There were no new soldiers for either the Black Watch or the King's Own Scottish Borderers, just one each for the Highlanders and the Royal Scots, two for the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, and seven for the Royal Highland Fusiliers.
The figures supplied by the Army Training and Recruitment Agency also show that only 114 Scotland-bound recruits have passed out from Catterick in the first six months of 2005, down 50% on the intakes for the corresponding period in the previous two years.
All six of Scotland's existing infantry regiments are to merge into the Royal Regiment of Scotland next year, with a further internal amalgamation of the Royal Scots and the King's Own Scottish Borderers reducing final numbers by a battalion.
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A military insider said yesterday:
"The bald figures do not tell the whole story. There were recruitment freezes in place as a cost-cutting measure in June and July 2003, and May and October last year, and yet the Scottish regiments still managed to bring in more than 400 new soldiers each year. If the trend continues as it has for the first half of 2005, we will be lucky to pull in 200 recruits in total, rather than the 500-plus we need just to mark time in replacing the guys who are leaving."
A spokeswoman for the army in Scotland said:
"Recruitment has major peaks and troughs throughout the year, just like in the civilian job sector. The summer period is often difficult.
But in September, recruitment really picks up and school leavers start making decisions about what career they want.
Forces recruitment is a very complex area and a whole host of factors are involved – local economy, employment, fitness, drugs and further education, among others. Iraq and Deepcut are affecting parents' willingness to allow their children to join the army, but regimental restructuring isn't.
Most young men we have surveyed know nothing about the restructuring, cap badges or uniform issues."
Jeff Duncan, campaign manager of the Save the Scottish Regiments organisation, said:
"If official figures are to be believed, then the first six months recruitment for the Scottish regiments is down at least 50%, and possibly as much as 66%. Government ministers and the military hierarchy are overlooking – or ignoring – one very important fact, and that is, the would-be recruits do listen to the news and follow the issues. It is plain that they do not want to join the new super-regiment.
John Reid, the defence secretary, should enter into open discussion with the individual regiments – representatives of not just high ranking officers, but also the foot soldiers who go into battle – to find out how they feel before he ends up presiding over the death of the Scottish units."
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