THE decision to scrap planned cuts to the Territorial Army has been welcomed by the prospective Conservative parliamentary candidate for Great Yarmouth.

THE decision to scrap planned cuts to the Territorial Army has been welcomed by the prospective Conservative parliamentary candidate for Great Yarmouth.

The government announced last week it was dropping the controversial �20m reduction to the TA budget.

Since 2002, some 20,000 reservists have seen active service in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Balkans, most of them from the TA.

The number of soldiers serving in the TA has fallen to 35,000 today from 57,000 in 1997.

Mr Lewis said: “Through good times and bad, the Territorial Army has given this country a proud century of service.

Thanks to Conservative pressure, Gordon Brown has been forced to abandon his damaging and ill-thought out plans to cut TA training. Common sense has prevailed.”