WAR veterans were celebrating today after Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon revealed he had no plans to axe Yorkshire's oldest regiment.

Speculation had been mounting that the Government's Defence White Paper, due to be published this month, would signal the end of ten regiments, including the Prince Of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire.

Mr Hoon confirmed he was looking at making radical changes to Britain's armed forces.

But to the relief of furious war veterans, he has disclosed he was "not in the business" of scrapping historic regiments, or making thousands of soldiers redundant.

Cuts were understood to be at the forefront of Ministry of Defence plans because of troop withdrawals from Northern Ireland.

It was feared that the Prince of Wales's Own - which is about to complete a two-year tour of duty in Ulster - would be among the first to be disbanded.

But Mr Hoon said: "There certainly won't be wholesale redundancies.

"I would want to have the same size army in five years' time as it is today.

"With the operational commitments facing the country, we need every soldier we can get."

Selby old soldier John Collier said today: "This is tremendous news and a great relief to all the lads who are still members of the regimental association.

"We were all devastated when we heard the reports, and my phone was red hot."

Malayan veteran Brian Cooney, 70, of Bawtry Close, Selby, said: "I'm delighted. We are all very proud of our regiment and to disband it would have been an absolute travesty."

There are regimental association branches throughout Yorkshire, including York and Selby, with more than 600 members.

Mr Collier, 66, of Petrie Avenue, Selby, who saw action in the Suez conflict in 1956, is chairman of the Selby branch of the regimental association.

He said the issue would be further discussed by the association's executive committee on Sunday at Worsley Barracks, in York.

The jobs of more than 100 Gurkhas based at York's Imphal Barracks, which were also believed to be under threat in the defence review, are also now secure.

An Army spokeswoman said the Prince of Wales's Own 1st Battalion was currently fully-recruited, which means it has a complement of about 650.

The battalion, known as the Yorkies, recruits in the York, Leeds and Hull areas, and has a recruitment team based at Strensall Barracks, York.

It is due to return soon to Catterick Garrison, where it is likely to undergo a changeover to a mechanised infantry role before a posting to Bosnia.

Updated: 10:35 Monday, December 01, 2003