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Cuts hit North West soliders National

Latest round in job cuts as Govt aims to reduce Army

Today's announcement that 4,480 military personnel would be made redundant is the latest round in army job cuts.

  • Round 1: 920 military personnel lost their jobs with 28% of them compulsory.
  • Round 2: 2,880 military personnel were made redundant with 28% of them compulsory.
  • Round 3: 4,480 military personnel lost their jobs with 16% of them compulsory.

There will be four tranches of cuts as the Government aims to reduce the number of regular soldiers to 82,000 by 2018.

General Sir Peter Wall, Chief of the General Staff, said the fourth round of army cuts would be less than the amount announced today.

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Parents march to save school

Parents march to save Merseyside school

School protest
Parents and Pupils demonstrate to save Christ the King School in Huyton Credit: ITV Granada Reports

Parents fighting to save school in Huyton are marching on Liverpool's Metropolitan Cathedral to hand in a petition.

Christ the King School opened just 4 years ago it was the first of 7 new secondary schools labelled specialist "centres of learning" by Knowsley council.

But they plan to close it in August.

National

MoD: 'Tough decisions needed to be made'

Tough decisions needed to be made to address the multibillion-pound deficit and bring the defence budget back into balance.

This unfortunately included making some redundancies across the armed forces. However we can be clear that these reductions will not affect our operational capability.

The end of combat operations in Afghanistan and the restructuring of our armed forces means they will be more reflective of the complex global situation and more adaptable to future challenges and threats.

– Ministry of Defence spokeswoman
National

Thousands of soldiers to be handed redundancy notices

A fresh tranche of up to 5,300 Army personnel are to be handed redundancy notices. Credit: PA Wire

Thousands of soldiers are due to learn whether they have lost their jobs in the latest round of Army redundancies.

A fresh tranche of up to 5,300 Army personnel are to be handed redundancy notices as the Government tries to reduce the number of regulars to 82,000 by 2018.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the move was necessary to help balance the books but insisted operational capability would not be affected.

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Cuts hit North West soliders

North West soldiers learn how cuts will affect them

Marching soldiers
Soldiers from the 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers march through Celle, Germany Credit: Emily Wabitsch/DPA/PA

Hundreds of soldiers from the north west will find out more details today on how Government cuts will effect them.

Redundancy notices are set to be issued across the armed forces.

Politicians believe the Second Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, which is being disbanded, will be severely affected.

Brady demands right to die

Ian Brady seen in public for first time in decades

VIDEO: For the first time in decades the Moors murderer Ian Brady has been seen and heard in public.

He is fighting for the right to die and appeared at a mental health tribunal via video link from Ashworth hospital.

Brady, who's 75 has wavy grey hair.

He wore dark glasses and spoke with a pronounced Scottish accent. The tribunal has been brought by him to prove his sanity so he can moved to an ordinary prison.

Our correspdondent Ashley Derricott was among the journalists who witnessed today's hearing.

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