SNP candidate for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk, Paul Wheelhouse has hit out at the UK Government after a Sunday newspaper revealed savage cuts to the Army Cadet Force training budget.
The cuts would have an affect right through the Cadet Force, which includes local detachments Within B Company in Coldstream, Duns, Eyemouth, Galashiels, Hawick, Jedburgh, Kelso, and Selkirk.
In a bid to slash £4m from the budget, the MoD will
ask cadet instructors, many of whom are retired army officers, to run training exercises for free.
Commenting, Mr Wheelhouse said: "It's disgraceful that Labour is cutting funding to our soldiers of tomorrow.
"Here in Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk the cadet force instils a real sense of discipline, leadership and community spirit in our area's teenagers, and that can only be a good thing. Not everyone in the cadets wants to join the Army, although the Cadet Corps has been credited with turning around the lives of thousands of troubled teenagers.
"The Army Cadet Corps has been a positive influence for our communities for nearly 150 years. I know from personal experience in a Combined Cadet Force company how much fun it can be too. For Labour to serve a hammer blow to such a strong and important tradition will make it impossible to maintain the same level of support for these young people.
"Gordon Brown has got his priorities all wrong. If he's is looking to save money he should start with the £100 billion cost of the Trident nuclear weapons renewal. Gordon Brown was forced to u-turn on the Ghurkhas and the TA, and now he should about-turn on Labour's cadet cuts too."
SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson MP has tabled the following Early Day Motion, on the issue: "That this House expresses concern at UK government plans to cut the Army Cadet Force budget by £4million; believes that the Army Cadets are the soldiers of tomorrow and these short-sighted cuts risk the future of an organisation which has given young people a taste of military discipline and leadership for nearly 150 years; notes the UK government's turnaround on residency rights for the Gurkhas and planned cuts to the Territorial Army, and now calls for Ministers to abandon proposed cuts to the Army Cadet Force."
