HC Deb 17 July 1968 vol 768 c1410
17. Mr. G. Campbell

asked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the latest position concerning the amalgamation or disbandment of regiments.

Mr. Boyden

The position is set out in the White Paper which was published last Thursday.

Mr. Campbell

Will the Government look at this whole question again, both in the light of the debate last Monday and of the very serious recruiting problems now facing the Ministry of Defence?

Mr. Boyden

My right hon. Friend is not, of course, prepared to look at the whole question again, but he is certainly prepared to consider—I do not think that the hon. Gentleman was in his place when I mentioned this earlier—the question to which he referred in the debate on Monday; the amalgamation of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders with some other regiment if this should be the general wish.

Mr. William Hamilton

Would my hon. Friend give an assurance that when the cuts proposed in the recent White Paper are completed, the number of Scottish regiments which will lose their separate identity will be less than the number which lost their identity under Conservative administration?

Mr. Boyden

Yes, Sir.