Scottish-recruited Units Debate

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Department: Ministry of Defence

Scottish-recruited Units

Stewart Hosie Excerpts
Wednesday 23rd May 2012

(12 years, 6 months ago)

Westminster Hall
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Pete Wishart Portrait Pete Wishart
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It is with great regret that we have lost some of those fantastic regiments. There are ways to do it. Our regimental system is admired across the world, and we mess with it at our peril. We were not successful in retaining the historic Scottish regiments. They were amalgamated and the Royal Regiment of Scotland appeared. We acknowledge that with much regret.

One thing that we secured, an important concession that everyone recognises as valuable, was the idea of a golden thread that would allow the past to knit to the future and allow the former regiments some sort of identity and home within the Royal Regiment of Scotland.

Stewart Hosie Portrait Stewart Hosie (Dundee East) (SNP)
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When my hon. Friend speaks about the golden thread, it is not mere history or sentiment. It is essential to recruitment and retention into those geographically recruited units, such as the Black Watch, when recruits come from that area. It is vital for recruitment and retention into units such as that.