I congratulate my friend Liz Smith on securing this timely and important debate. As others have done, I welcome the Black Watch veterans to the gallery this afternoon. I say to Brigadier Garry Barnett that I sympathise with his having to keep in order my friend Edward Mountain, but his experience has nothing on what the Conservative whips in the Parliament have had to put up with over the past number of years.

As Liz Smith said, the origins of the Black Watch date back to a turbulent time in our country’s past. In the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1715, six companies of loyal Highlanders were assembled in 1725 to patrol the Highlands of Scotland, disarm the clans and restore order. Those men were not outsiders but Highlanders policing Highlanders, tasked with preserving peace in their own lands. As Liz Smith mentioned, that included the Fraser clan—a clan that was not always loyal to the Crown, although it was on that occasion.

To set themselves apart from the existing regiments of the British Army and to drum home their independent identity, those Highland soldiers ditched the traditional red coat and donned the now-famous dark green, blue and black tartan. Those companies became known, in both fear and respect, as am Freiceadan Dubh in Gaelic or, as we know them, the Black Watch—a name that could be derived either from the 12-yard dark green military tartan or, possibly, the sombre nature of their duties.

In 1739, King George I ordered the formation of four additional companies, bringing the total to 10, which were all to be recognised as a regiment of the line of the British Army. Crucially, the King stipulated that those soldiers were to be natives of that country and that none other were to be taken—a declaration that solidified the regiment’s unique Scottish identity.

The first official muster of the new regiment took place the following year, in 1740, on the banks of the River Tay in Aberfeldy. Since then, as we have heard from others, the Black Watch has gained a reputation for bravery, discipline and direction on the battlefield, and it has played a part in every major conflict involving Britain, including the battles of Fontenoy and Culloden; the national Napoleonic wars; the American war of independence, where the regiment famously defeated forces under George Washington; both world wars; and, more recently, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, where the regiment served with honour.

It is testament to the courage and sacrifice shown by soldiers of the Black Watch that they have been awarded no fewer than 14 Victoria crosses—Britain’s highest military decoration for valour. Notwithstanding their indisputable loyalty, many members of the Black Watch have always considered themselves, as one of their commanders described, as men who felt a responsibility towards the country for which they cherished a devoted affection—notably Scotland.

The connection that Alexander Stewart referred to between the Black Watch and Perthshire is not just symbolic but tangible and on-going. In 1947, the regiment was granted the freedom of the city of Perth. For decades, the Queen’s Barracks in Perth served as a depot for the regiment, housing training soldiers and acting as the main point for regimental life. Following an army reorganisation in the early 1960s, the barracks closed, but the Black Watch found a new and permanent home at Balhousie castle nearby. The historic castle has become a symbol for the regiment’s legacy, with a public campaign in 2008 raising a remarkable £3.5 million to transform the site into a five-star, award-winning visitor attraction, with a new museum and archive. The site has been a brilliant success and has welcomed nearly a million visitors from around the world over the past 10 years.

Last June, the streets of Perth came alive once more as veterans marched in the freedom of Perth parade, commemorating the 20th anniversary of the regiment’s final deployment to Iraq.

In Aberfeldy, a striking monument was unveiled in 1887 as a tribute to the first mustering of the regiment there in 1740, and there are plans for a new memorial in Dundee in the future.

The Black Watch continues to this day as 3 SCOTS, the third battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. It is currently based at Fort George near Inverness, but there are very welcome plans afoot to relocate the battalion to Leuchars in Fife, which would be closer to the traditional recruiting grounds across Perthshire, Angus, Dundee and Fife and would physically reconnect the regiment with the communities from which it draws its support. That would be a very welcome move for the future of the Black Watch. I join all members taking part in the debate in wishing members of the battalion the greatest success in the future.