Wendy calls for a re-think!

6.41.49pm GMT Sun 6th Feb 2005

In a letter sent to the CHAD newspaper (02/02/05), Local Lib Dem PPC Wendy Johnson has called on Ashfield MP and Defence Minister Geoff Hoon to reconsider implementing the proposed reorganisation of the armed forces

"I am responding to the continued debate about Geoff Hoon's proposal to abolish the Worcester and Sherwood Foresters Regiment.

I accept that there is a case for reorganising parts of our armed forces, multi battalion regiments are potentially more efficient than single battalion ones, but in any reorganisation there is a risk of throwing the proverbial baby out with the bath water, I fear this will happen here.

The proposals will sever the link that solders have to their regiment's past. As the daughter and mother of a solder I know how important this is. The connection between communities and the regiment raised in their area is also at risk. I don't see either concern being addressed by Geoff Hoon's proposal to allow battalions to retain their former cap badges within something as historically and geographically obscure as the Mercian Regiment.

The simple truth is that these proposals are about cuts. Four infantry battalions will disappear over the next couple of years. Given the world in which we live and the demands we place on our armed forces I believe that it is a mistake to reduce our front line infantry strength at this time.

Recent experience in Iraq and elsewhere shows that it is troops on the ground that count. Geoff Hoon's proposals will make it more difficult for us to put troops where they are needed in the numbers that are necessary to do the job required of them. Just as importantly his proposals say nothing about how well the troops that remain will be equipped for the job we ask them to do.

For all these reasons I am opposed to the proposals and support the calls made by so many for reconsideration before it is too late."