HC Deb 13 May 1941 vol 371 cc1062-5
20. Mr. Maxton

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland why police action has been taken in several towns in Scotland against Scottish Nationalists; why their homes have been visited and searched, documents and papers seized, numbers of individuals taken to police stations, detained and subjected to prolonged cross-examination; and whether he can state on whose authority this action was taken, and under what powers?

The Lord Advocate (Mr. T. M. Cooper)

I have been asked to reply. No action has been taken against any person because of his association with Scottish Nationalism or the Scottish Nationalist Party. In consequence, however, of information in the possession of the authorities, search warrants obtained under Defence Regulation 88A were executed on 3rd May at certain premises in which it was believed that evidence would be found bearing upon the commission by certain persons of acts prejudicial to the public safety and the defence of the realm. Some of the occupiers of these premises, who are not necessarily suspected of any offence, were asked to accompany the police to the police station for the purpose of inquiries, but there has been no detention except in one case, in which an Order was made under Defence Regulation 18BB, in one in which a conviction has since been obtained for a contravention of Section 3 (4) of the National Service (Armed Forces) Act, 1939, and in another in which a charge has been brought for a contravention of the Firearms Act in respect of the unauthorised possession of quantities of firearms and ammunition. Investigations are still proceeding and I am not in a position to make any further statement.

Mr. Maxton

Are people no longer allowed to have shot guns in Scotland for sporting purposes, and will the right hon. and learned Gentleman answer that part of the Question which asks on whose authority the action was taken?

The Lord Advocate

With regard to the first part of the hon. Member's supplementary question, the firearms which were revealed were not of a kind used for sporting purposes. As regards the second part of the question, the procedure under the search warrants followed the ordinary course. They were granted on sworn informations, by sheriffs in certain cases and by justices of the peace in certain cases.

Mr. Maxton

Does the right hon. and learned Gentleman tell me that the whole series of raids on respectable citizens was carried out on the responsibility. of Sheriffs-substitute, and that he and the Secretary of State for Scotland are shuffling the responsibility on to the Sheriffs-substitute?

The Lord Advocate

Certainly not. I think the hon. Member asked me whose authority was given for the search warrants, but, as I stated in my original Answer, the action was taken because of information in the possession of the authorities indicating that acts prejudicial to the public safety and the Defence of the Realm were being committed or were in contemplation, and the action was deliberately concerted with a view to the detection and prevention of those acts.

Mr. Maxton

Does the right hon. and learned Gentleman think that melodramatic nonsense of this sort is of any use to anyone?

Mr. Speaker

rose —

Mr. Maxton

I am not so easily shut up. I do not interrupt very often.

Mr. Speaker

The hon. Member knows perfectly well that I should not allow that kind of language in a supplementary question.

Mr. Maxton

That was just an aside. I want to ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he believes that the people whose homes were raided by the police—respectable citizens, many of whom he knows—many of whom are his personal friends and have been for years, have criminal intentions against the general welfare of this country? I am asking the Secretary of State for Scotland, to whom I put the Question down.

The Lord Advocate

I have already made it plain that the purpose of the search, as the Defence Regulations make it plain, was to enable evidence to be obtained of the commission of certain offences by certain persons, not necessarily the persons whose premises were searched. I have made no allegation against any specific person.

Mr. Maxton

You just sent police to break into the premises.

The Lord Advocate

But I have stated, and I repeat, that the information in the possession of the authorities justified the search being made and I would venture to add that the discovery of the firearms and ammunition in itself justifies the action taken.

Mr. Maxton

It is a lot of rubbish.