Lieutenant General Sir Alistair Irwin: "Indefinite future"

The move to cut one Scots battalion has raised concerns over the future of the Black Watch and the Highlanders.

But Lieutenant General Sir Alistair Irwin has said he does not expect any regiment to be axed as part of the process to scale back the battalions.

As well as infantry battalions, each regiment also includes the Territorial Army, cadets and related associations.

The Council of Scottish Colonels is expected to come to a decision about where the cuts will fall by October.

It follows Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon's plan to axe an infantry battalion and cut RAF jobs.

Lt Gen Irwin, Colonel Commandant of the Scottish Division, said: "I'm not na�ve enough to think that everyone in Scotland, or everybody in each regiment will agree with the final outcome, but I'm certainly hoping there will be substantial buy-in into what we're going to do.

There's no question in my mind of us just removing the entirety of a regiment wholesale Lt Gen Alistair Irwin Colonel Commandant of the Scottish Division

"We must create something that is going to persuade the young men of Scotland, Scotland's finest young men, to join us and make sure that we still have a vibrant Scottish infantry into the indefinite future.

"There's no question in my mind of us just removing the entirety of a regiment wholesale, this is about the numbers of battalions."

Meanwhile, local enterprise chiefs in the north of Scotland have expressed concern over the impact of RAF cuts on the rural economy.

Douglas Yuill, chief executive of Moray, Badenoch and Strathspey Enterprise, said the issue was of great concern to the communities around RAF Kinloss and RAF Lossiemouth.

Mr Yuill said: "We're going to have an economic impact assessment carried out, this will be a wide-ranging document, so that we can fully understand the implications of what's been announced, so that we can deal with it in terms of a strategy and action for the future.