SNP DEMAND STATEMENT ON PM GORDON BROWN'S TA ABOUT-TURN

SNP DEMAND STATEMENT ON PM GORDON BROWN'S TA ABOUT-TURN,

The SNP have welcomed an apparent cave-in by the Prime Minister this evening (Tuesday) following reports on BBC that Gordon Brown has abandoned plans to impose a £17.5m cut to the training budget of the Territorial Army – the move comes a day after the UK government announced a token reduction in the scale of the original cuts from £20m to £17.5m.

SNP Westminster leader and Defence spokesperson Angus Robertson MP, who has led calls for the cuts to be reversed, called for a further statement to parliament.

Mr Robertson said: “The Prime Minister must make a statement to parliament and confirm this u-turn which comes just a day after Downing Street told us there would only be a token concession.

The fact is that this embarrassing cave-in has nothing to do with what’s right for the TA, and everything to do with Gordon Brown’s fear that Labour’s cuts will turn into a political disaster rivaling his humiliation over the Gurkhas.

“The fact is that Labour keep making the wrong choices on cuts – whether its cutting Scottish spending in the teeth of recession or cutting TA training while blowing billions on a new generation of Trident nuclear weapons.

These choices underline just how out of touch Labour is. “The SNP have a simple suggestion for the prime minister if he wants to make efficiency savings – he should focus on cutting Trident before he cuts the TA. “The TA are more than ‘weekend warriors’ - right now five hundred territorial officers are making a significant operational contribution in Afghanistan.

Closing down training for the next six months could have real repercussions, and Ministers have not addressed that. You can’t cut training for six months without a knock on effect down the line in terms of operations and recruitment.”