Army 2020

Huw Irranca-Davies Excerpts

Thursday 5th July 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hammond]

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend. The Army has looked at the experience of comparable forces around the world in recruiting reservists, and I agree that co-operation with employers will be critical. We intend to publish a consultation paper in the autumn on our proposed changes and our engagement with employers—the offer for employers, if you like—and we will bring forward our proposals in the new year. If implementing our vision of reserves requires legislation, we will legislate.

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

May I pay tribute to the young Guardsman Craig Roderick, who was one of the three soldiers killed earlier this week in Afghanistan? He was described as follows by his superior officers:

“Brave, honest and loyal, he was the sort of man anyone would be glad to have in his fire-trench when the going got tough.”

Does the Secretary of State recognise that although the Welsh Cavalry being saved is a great tribute to those who have campaigned for it, it is, as my right hon. Friend the shadow Secretary of State said, a pyrrhic victory considering the loss of the historic 2 Royal Welsh?

[Mr Hammond]

I do not agree with the hon. Gentleman. There has been much speculation in the media about the Queen’s Dragoon Guards, which will continue in its current form. It is necessary to take five battalions out of the infantry, and the Army has taken a methodical and scientific approach. Regrettably, 2 Royal Welsh is a battalion that has to be lost.