2nd BATTALION, THE ROYAL REGIMENT OF FUSILIERS

That this House opposes the disbandment of 2nd Battalion, the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, which has a long and distinguished history dating back to the Lancashire Fusiliers, whose brave soldiers famously won `six Victoria Crosses before breakfast' in the Gallipoli landings of the First War; supports the campaign by the Manchester Evening News to preserve the regiment in its current form; recognises the concerns of brave servicemen and women and relatives of fallen soldiers such as Pete and Ann Annis, who lost son Simon in August 2009 as he tried to rescue a comrade in Afghanistan; and urges the Ministry of Defence to reconsider reductions which will see 600 soldiers and officers currently in the battalion facing redundancy.