Fort George 'asset stripping' accusation over MSP's Black Watch call
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A FURIOUS MP has slammed calls for the Black Watch to be given a new home on Tayside if Fort George closes as planned in 2032.
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie, whose constituency covers North-East Fife, has called for the battalion to be housed at Leuchars when it is moved out of the under-threat fort. The Black Watch traditionally recruits from the Tayside and Fife area.
But Inverness and Nairn MP Drew Hendry has shot back that the calls are premature and accused the MSP of insensitivity in making his suggestion just days after the UK Government confirmed its plans to close Fort George.
He also accused him of "throwing in the towel" in the battle to reverse the UK Government's decision.
The SNP member said: "This is crass and insensitive in the extreme and Willie Rennie should apologise immediately. Even the remaining Liberal Democrat supporters in the Highlands will be shocked by this opportunistic move, coming as it does, within days of the UK Government's announcement.
"The betrayal of the promise of a permanent home for the Black Watch in the Highlands is hard enough to take but it looks like the Lib Dems still want to make it easier for the Tories, just like old times.
"We want both these bases to be active but it seems like the Lib Dems have thrown in the towel and signalled their support for these brutal Tory cuts. Here, in the Highlands, while the base remains, we intend to fight this decision and demand a u-turn for the Tories and keep Fort George as the home of the Black Watch."
Mr Rennie has hit back at Mr Hendry, arguing that his predecessor in the Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey constituency seat, Danny Alexander, would have been able to protect the site from the axe.
“This is a boomerang attack from Mr Hendry," he said. "During the campaign to save the barracks I went up there and I campaigned for it to remain open. If Danny Alexander was still an MP he would never have allowed it to close.
“Yesterday the Secretary for the Economy agreed to sit with me to discuss the future of the regiment if the Tory cuts went through so in effect Mr Hendry is now criticising his own SNP Government.
"Maybe Mr Hendry should spend more time checking with his own before making criticisms.”
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