FUTURE OF THE ROYAL REGIMENT OF FUSILIERS

Early day motion 254, tabled 1 December 2004 by Lorna Fitzsimons (Labour). Signed by 37 members.

That this House notes with dismay the eleventh hour decision by the Director of Infantry to propose cutting one of the two remaining Fusilier battalions of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers (RRF), the effect of which would be to make unsustainable the RRF, the one remaining Fusilier regiment in the British Army; believes that it is not fair and equitable to cut three large regiments of six or more sustainable battalions of the Queen's Division representing 17 counties whilst retaining three battalions from a single county; further believes that this breaks the Army's stated ambition of moving to super regiments of two or more battalions; further notes that along with recruiting strength, sustainability and recruiting footprint it makes up the four most important success criteria the Executive Committee of the Army Board (ECAB) established; recommends that the ECAB support the proposal that the fourth battalion comes from a division that has not been cut historically in 1970-92 as the Fusiliers were, that does not have the same strength and proven track record in recruiting to very high establishment numbers, that does not have as large a geographic recruiting footprint and that would not destroy a division with three super regiments; and further believes that the ECAB's criteria are correct but they must stick to them to ensure the integrity of the review.

Signatures by party: Labour 26, Liberal Democrat 5, Conservative 3, Labour/Co-operative 2, UUP 1.