PLANS to axe hundreds of Merseyside’s part-time soldiers posts have been attacked by council leaders.

The Royal Signal posts will be lost in a shake-up designed to make the Territorial Army (TA) better prepared for war.

The Government has described reservists as “old-fashioned” who need to do away with the image of the TA as a social scene.

As a result, posts will be lost from Signals units based in Huyton, Aintree and Runcorn as signals technology is said to be “obsolete”.

But council leader Cllr Warren Bradley has criticised the comments and raised the matter as a council debate. He pointed out that the Royal Signals have been based in Liverpool since the formation of the TA in 1908.

He said: “Members of the regiment have met the country’s call in two World Wars and continue to rise to that call with 35 operational tours to Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan.

“The unit is well recruited, well led and well attended.

“They have a wealth of experience particularly in information technology, and we are aware this is vital in the modern battle field. The regular army is stretched to breaking point and the Signals Squadron has eased this burden considerably.

“We’ve already lost the Kings Regiment, and before long we won’t have anything in the city, so how then are we to get young people to serve the country?”

Coun Bradley added: He said: “We welcome the recent vote in the House of Commons for the Gurkha and now urge the Government to rethink this decision.”