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WISHART WARNS OF WESTMINSTER THREAT TO ARMY

Commenting on a speech by the Secretary of State for Defence, Philip Hammond MP, to the Royal United Services Institute in London today (Thursday), the Scottish National Party’s Mr Pete Wishart MP, Member of Parliament for Perth & North Perthshire, said: “In a speech to the Royal United Services Institute the Defence Secretary has admitted that under his Strategic Defence and Security Review, Army numbers will shrink by 20,000 from 102,000 to 82,000 by 2020. “Such swingeing cuts cannot fail to have a massive impact, not just on the organisation of military units but the capability of the armed forces to do their job.  Meantime, they remain thirled to Trident, that massively expensive white elephant. “With this Government’s track record, I am particularly concerned that the impact of these cuts could be disproportionately felt in Scotland.  As the MP for the constituency that is the historic home to the Black Watch that matters to me. “We have already forced a partial u-turn out of the Government on the future of names and cap badges but it is clear that the concerns we have raised about boots on the ground remain extremely well-founded."

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