AN MP has warned that a new "super regiment" for the whole of Yorkshire may be based outside the county.

John Greenway, Tory MP for Ryedale, expressed concerns that the headquarters of the Yorkshire Regiment, a formation of the county's three existing infantry regiments, could be located outside the traditional recruiting area.

The Ministry of Defence would only confirm that the regimental museums of the Green Howards and Prince of Wales's Own would remain in Richmond and York.

On Thursday, Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon announced that a new Yorkshire Regiment would be formed, consisting of three battalions - the 1st Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales's Own), the 2nd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment (Green Howards) and the 3rd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment (Duke of Wellington's).

Mr Greenway said: "This will be seen as a shabby announcement once the penny has dropped.

"While there is some relief that the famous names will be retained, Geoff Hoon would not say that cap badges will be retained.

"If they were to be, he would have said so.

"And the real concern is that, if the new regiment is not even based in Yorkshire but somewhere many miles away, the local links will erode."

Mr Hoon said MPs would have to "bear with him" to learn the new base of the Yorkshire Regiment.

But a regimental spokesman for the Green Howards, David Winpenny, said that it was highly unlikely that the new regiment's headquarters would be outside Yorkshire.

"We would be very surprised if that happened.

"The most likely place for the regimental headquarters is York, with the three battalions probably based in Catterick, Cyprus and Salisbury Plain."

Mr Winpenny said it was the very nature of the infantry that battalions were based in various locations.

"You cannot expect all the soldiers to be based in Yorkshire all the time.

"But if we do all our recruiting here and retain our strong local links, we would expect to have a Yorkshire headquarters."

With the new regiment due to be formed towards the end of next year, plans are already under way to decide upon various details, such as what cap badge will be worn.

The white rose of Yorkshire was the most likely emblem, said Mr Winpenny.

"In fact, when the Green Howards were called The Yorkshire Regiment (Green Howards) about a century ago, their badge was the white rose, so that's what we would expect the new badge to be."

York MP Hugh Bayley said: "The Yorkshire regiments have a long, proud and distinguished history and I am very glad that the historic names will be retained in the new Yorkshire Regiment."

Updated: 10:07 Saturday, December 18, 2004