THE number of infantry regiments could be cut drastically under the most radical option now being examined by Army chiefs.

The Black Watch, serving in Iraq, is one of the regiments of the Scottish Division that are expected to be combined into a new super-regiment consisting of five battalions.

However, defence sources said that one option was to use the same formula for English regiments, which would mean merging far more of them than had previously been realised.

At present, 19 regiments in Scotland and England have only one battalion each, and all have been put on notice that they are to be formed into larger regimental units, with at least two battalions each.

However, options being studied by Brigadier Jamie Balfour, Director of Infantry, include one that would create super-regiments throughout the Army, all with five battalions.

This would reduce significantly the number of individual infantry regiments in Scotland and England.

Excluding The Parachute Regiment, The Royal Irish Rangers and the Guards regiments, which are unlikely to be merged, 24 infantry regiments face possible change. Five have two battalions, but all would be affected by the radical fivebattalion option if Army chiefs approve the scheme.

Defence sources said that this could be the preferred option because it would make the Army more efficient and guarantee officers and soldiers a greater breadth of experience.

The proposals are so radical that Army chiefs have agreed to postpone their meeting to decide the future structure of the infantry after a personal intervention by Tony Blair.

General Sir Mike Jackson, Chief of the General Staff, had been due to meet members of the Executive Committee of the Army Board next Thursday to approve the combining of regiments, and to forward their recommendations to ministers.

However, after Mr Blair expressed concern at the timing of the decision, with The Black Watch still serving in Iraq, General Jackson has delayed the meeting until December 6.

Until now, the main focus has been on The Black Watch and the five other regiments of the Scottish Division, all of which have only one battalion. The proposal for this division is to amalgamate two of the regiments — The Royal Scots and The King’s Own Scottish Borderers — because of a requirement to lose one battalion from Scotland, and then to put the remainder under a single super-regiment, called The Scottish Regiment or The Royal Scottish Regiment.

This formula provoked such a political head of steam among Scottish MPs that Mr Blair contacted General Jackson to see if the decision process could be postponed. This resulted in the delay until December 6, by which time The Black Watch will be approaching its return to Britain after six months in Iraq.

When General Jackson announced his plans for forming larger regiments on the day of the publication of the Defence White Paper in July, he said that in future all regiments would have to consist of at least two battalions.

However, the defence sources said that the best formula would be for all regiments to have five battalions. So the five English regiments that have two battalions each could no longer be confident that they were going to escape the changes.

These include The Royal Green Jackets, whose two battalions are 28 soldiers short and whose ranks are supplemented by 195 Commonwealth and overseas recruits; and The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment, whose two battalions are only six soldiers short but have 207 Commonwealth and foreign recruits. The 1st Battalion has recently returned from a six-month tour of Iraq where it suffered 50 casualties, two fatal.

The challenge for Brigadier Balfour, and for General Jackson, is to find a common denominator for the larger regiments. The Scottish restructuring can be summed up under the all-embracing title of Scottish Regiment. But it will be more difficult with the non-Scottish regiments. The Prince of Wales’s Division, for example, includes The Devonshire & Dorset Regiment, the Royal Welch Fusiliers and The Cheshire Regiment.

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