A RECRUITMENT crisis in the region’s Territorial Army battalions has been triggered by a failure to allow members time off with their families, it has been claimed.

The two battalions, based in Durham City and York, are 230 part-time soldiers understrength, according to figures uncovered by the Conservatives.

Liam Fox, the Tory defence spokesman, described the shortfall, part of a shortage of 990 TA members nationwide, as “extremely worrying”.

And he linked the problem to repeated breaches of the Ministry of Defence’s “harmony guidelines”, designed to allow all service personnel to juggle work and family life.

Dr Fox, who spent five years working as a doctor with the Armed Forces, also warned of a “mental health timebomb”

because the forces were so overstretched.

According to information released by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the current situation in the region is:

● 5 Battalion Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, based in Durham – a shortfall of 100 (21.7 per cent of a full strength of 460);

● 4 Battalion Yorkshire Regiment, based in York – a shortfall of 130 (24.5 per cent of 530).

Dr Fox said there were 22,000 fewer people in the TA than in 1997, when Labour came to power, which mirrored the Army (2,440 fewer), Royal Navy (7,000 fewer) and RAF (14,750 fewer).

At the same time – after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – gaps between tours were shorter, especially for key personnel such as helicopter pilots, medics and Army intelligence.

Dr Fox said: “At a time when the TA has effectively become an adjunct to the regular Army, it is extremely worrying to see that 12 out of 14 infantry battalions are understrength.

“Recruitment and retention are a growing problem across the Armed Forces, exacerbated by repeated breaches of the harmony guidelines, set out to ensure that service personnel are able to spend time with their families and in training.”

A spokeswoman for the MoD said it was working hard to improve manning levels and that the most up-to-date results showed “initiatives are paying off”.

It also said the Conservatives were wrong to link any shortfall in TA numbers to breaches of “harmony guidelines”, because separate, stricter rules applied.

These rules stipulated that no TA member serves more than six months on operations in any three-year period, unless they volunteer to do so.

Armed Forces Minister Kevan Jones, the MP for Durham North, said: “We have been working hard to improve manning levels and the latest figures suggest that recruitment and retention initiatives are paying off.”