Hoon faces new Black Watch fight

The councils are seeking assurances over the Black Watch

The leaders of four Scottish councils have lobbied the UK Government over the future of the Black Watch.

Councillors from Perth and Kinross, Tayside, Dundee and Fife represent the traditional recruiting grounds of the regiment, currently serving in Iraq.

They travelled to London to highlight the importance of the Black Watch to their local communities.

They were "moderately encouraged" following talks with the Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon on Wednesday.

The ceremonial headquarters of the Black Watch is in Perthshire but the regiment also recruits its soldiers from areas like Fife, Tayside and Dundee.

The civic leaders have thrown their weight behind the fight for the Black Watch's survival.

We need to sit down and analyse what was said to us John Letford Dundee Lord Provost

Dundee Lord Provost John Letford said the talks with Mr Hoon had gone well.

He said: "It was a nice exchange of dialogue from both sides and Mr Hoon put forward his points of view, as we did ours. We need to sit down and analyse what was said to us.

"If the identity of the Black Watch was retained within some structure, yes, I'm certain we would be happy with that."

Mr Letford said it was "extremely insensitive" to be considering changes to Scottish regiments when the need for them had been proven in places like Iraq.

Before the meeting with Mr Hoon, the delegation handed a letter in to Downing Street to lobby Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Brig Barnett, chairman of the Black Watch campaign, said: "We are trying to persuade the government to reverse the decision on cutting the size of the infantry by four battalions and to restructure the infantry removing these regiments that have been around for hundreds of years."

Fife Lord Provost John Simpson said he had attended four funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq in the past 10 days and believed that Fife had "paid a very high price".

The government has previously said that no final decision has been made on the regiment's future.