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Army bases in Scotland to be axed in British military shake-up

04 July 2013 03:41 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. he British government announced on Wednesday that it would close a total of 26 army bases, seven of them in Scotland, the local media reported, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Scotland's ruling Scottish National Party expressed dissatisfaction at the government reforms announced by British Defence Secretary Philip Hammond at the House of Commons, claiming that Scotland is suffering from "disproportionate defence cuts", the online Scotsman newspaper reported.

The army shake-up will see the reserve force change its name from the Territorial Army (TA) to Army Reserve, it added.

The base cuts came amid wider announcements of new incentives for small and medium-sized businesses to support reservist employees, a "signing-on bounty" of 5,000 pounds (about 7,640 U.S. dollars) for ex-regulars who join the reserves and upgraded holiday and pension entitlements, said the report.

Hammond said an additional 1.8 billion pounds will be spent over 10 years and 200 million pounds will be spent on equipment for the reserves. The measures are expected to help increase reserve numbers across the United Kingom from around 20,000 to 30,000 by 2018.

Later on the day, Scottish Veterans Minister Keith Brown called on Hammond to clarify the impact of the announced military changes on Scotland as the British central government failed to consult with, or even notify, the Scottish government in advance of the statement.

The Scottish government also said the central government failed to keep its commitment as it pledged a substantial uplift to the military footprint in Scotland two years ago.