My Lords, the restructuring of our Armed Forces in order to meet the demands being made of them in the 21st century is absolutely essential. The decisions that have been taken to do this are right; they are the right things to do. A failure to make those changes to restructure our forces would be a dereliction of our duty to do so. However, the process by which those changes are implemented has fully to take into account and to respect the important traditions of our Armed Forces, in particular the Scottish regiments, being mindful of the concerns relating to issues such as tartans and cap badges in Scotland.

My understanding is that no firm decisions relating to those issues have been taken as such, and these decisions are really for the Armed Forces. They are best placed to judge how these traditions can best be maintained and how the golden thread, which is so essential to the future morale of our regiments, is sustained. It is a matter that requires a light touch from politicians.