Two-year plan to cut troops in the North

THE British Government yesterday set out a two-year plan to scale down its army’s presence in the North and to change the way it is policed.

The move by Northern Secretary Peter Hain followed the IRA’s announcement on Thursday that it is ending its armed campaign and completing its disarmament programme.

Under the security normalisation plans, army observation posts will be closed, police stations will be defortified and troops reduced to peacetime levels of around 5,000 soldiers if the security climate is right. There are currently around 10,500 soldiers serving in the North.