§ 71. Mr. Leachasked the Home Secretary whether he will consider the advisability during the summer months of providing more suitable uniforms for the body of police serving within the precincts of the Palace of Westminster; and will he also consider issuing regulations on this matter to watch committees throughout the country so that the more suitable uniforms now used in the police forces in many Colonies may be adopted in this country?
§ Mr. PeakeAs explained in previous replies, the present police uniform has been carefully designed to suit our changeable climate. The question of providing an alternative uniform for use in hot weather has been considered on several occasions but no such ararngements have been considered necessary. It would clearly be impracticable to distinguish between the police serving within the precincts of the Palace of Westminster and elsewhere.
§ Mr. LeachI do not want you to distinguish. What I asked is whether he is aware that this new kind of uniform that I asked him to adopt, which would be so much more comfortable for the police in hot weather, would actually cheapen the cost of uniforms generally in the police force?
§ Mr. PeakeThe present practice is that a jacket of lighter material, to be worn without a belt, is worn by the Metropolitan Police Force during the summer months.
§ Mr. LeachDoes not the hon. Gentleman know that uniforms in the Colonies are much handsomer and more suitable than those we have here?
§ Mr. MacquistenWill my hon. Friend examine a policeman's trousers and he will find that they are double the thickness of ordinary trousers?