Part of the debate – in the House of Commons am 12:00 am ar 21 Mawrth 1979.
Mr Merlyn Rees
, Leeds South
12:00,
21 Mawrth 1979
With the permission of the House, I wish to answer some of the points made today. At the same time, I ask the House to take note of the Shackleton report. That report, of course, left with the Government and the House of Commons the policy decision whether we need the legislation. The report examined the workings of the Act which operates against terrorists, whether they be members of the Provisional IRA or the UVF. I found it odd to hear that members of the Provisional IRA were Marxists. That is the last thing to be said of them.
I though it right to have a fresh mind on the working of the Act and to ask for an extension of the Act itself incorporating some of the changes recommended by Lord Shackleton. I shall not be able to deal with all the points raised. I know why my hon. Friend the Member for Belfast, West (Mr. Fitt) rose, but anything said by the Ministry of Defence must be left to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence. I have no knowledge of the matter raised by my hon. Friend, though I take his word that the report he spoke of was issued by the Ministry of Defence.
The hon. Member for Braintree (Mr. Newton) asked about the activities of the Board of Inland Revenue. That is not a matter for me, though I think that he was absolutely right in what he said. However, this issue is better left to the courts.
The hon. Member for Guildford (Mr. Howell) raised a wide issue when he asked whether police forces were of sufficient strength to deal with this problem. I have obtained the figures for the size of police forces in England and Wales. On 31 December 1974, there were about 102,000. There were about 109,000 at the end of last year. Between 1 July 1978 and 31 December 1978, the total strength of the police forces in England and Wales increased by 1,276, including a gain of 330 in the Metropolitan Police.
In the first months of this year, there was an increase in police strength in England and Wales of 869, including 116 in the Metropolitan Police. I do not say that the position could not be better, but it is a great deal better than it was four years ago. I hope that in the election campaign later in the year we shall not hear anything about the size of police forces or indeed about the figures that I published last week which showed a fall in the number of indictable offences—the first fall since 1973. Generally, of course, the press took no notice of that, I hope that Messrs. Saatchi & Saatchi will take notice of it because the figures are very good indeed.
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