Do not disband 2nd Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers

As this e-petition has recieved more than 10, 000 signatures, the relevant Government department have provided the following response:

The Ministry of Defence can assure you that none of the decisions surrounding the withdrawals and mergers included in the Defence Secretary's Army 2020 announcement of 5 July 2012 were taken lightly but these decisions were made in the face of dire financial circumstances which this Government inherited from the last.

There was a Backbench Business debate on this matter on 18 October 2012 and during this debate the rationale behind the decision to withdraw 2 RRF was covered extensively. The transcript of the debate is in the Official Report for 18 October 2012: Column 516. We will continue to implement Army 2020 as announced on 5 July 2012.

We understand that this decision was very disappointing to members of the RRF, past and present, and those with connections to it, however, it was simply not possible to save every unit.