SUGGESTIONS that the Black Watch is under threat is “nonsense” and “scaremongering”, the Scottish Secretary has said.
On a visit to RAF Lossiemouth today, Alister Jack told reporters that the famous Black Watch battalion had never been put under threat, and the regiment had “never been on the agenda” in any discussion he has had with Defence Secretary Ben Wallace.
Mr Jack was at Lossiemouth to give a keynote speech, highlighting the important role Scotland plays in the UK’s defence sector following a major UK Government announcement yesterday on military spending plans.
Despite investing in technology, the Conservatives also broke a manifesto pledge by announcing the number of troops would be cut by 10,000 over the next four years, although the true number is closer to 4,000 as the army is not currently at its full capacity of 82,000.
Mr Jack said the cuts were a reflection of “the future” of warfare and defence, and explained: “It's a drop of 4000, and that will be done by retirement, from natural wastage rather than redundancy. “More money will go into kit, into drones, into robots, technology.
“That is the future and it's a recognition that as technology adapts our armed services have to adapt.
“Everyone I've spoken to today feels that it's perfectly sensible and they understand that correctly is the direction of travel.”
READ MORE: Boris Johnson breaks manifesto pledge by cutting 10,000 army troops
On cuts to specific regiments, he said: “I can confirm there's a merger of one or two Mercian regiments, but all other regiments, all other cap badges as the Defence Secretary refers to them, are safe and secure. That's a very good thing.
“We get all this nonsense about the Black Watch being under threat, just to sort of try to raise unnecessary concern and scare mongering.
“Since I've been Secretary of State for Scotland I've been told many times, and I've read many times that the Black Watch are under threat. Well, in all my discussions with the Defence Secretary, the Black Watch have never been on the agenda.”
Mr Jack was also asked about plans to increase the UK’s threshold for nuclear weapons, and said he made “no apologies” for the move but said the increase did not mean the UK would definitely have more nuclear weapons in its arsenal.
He explained: “I would make no apology for the increase in the thresholds that we've announced.
“They're necessary for the United Kingdom, for all our safety, and for our commitment to NATO.
“That doesn't mean we necessarily increase the number and we don't declare the number we have. “We've increased the threshold to 260, I think the French threshold is 300.
“The threats around the world are increasing, there are more nuclear missiles in places where we would like them not to be, more areas of concern and therefore it's been deemed that we should increase or have the threshold to increase our warhead capability.
“Remember that defence systems can knock out warheads so you can't just have one if you're going to protect yourself.
“You need people need to know you've got more than one, and so I think I think increasing the threshold has been the right thing to do.”
Labour and the SNP have been highly critical of the move, with the SNP describing it as “ immoral and unjustifiable”.
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