HC Deb 22 May 1946 vol 423 cc299-306
4. Major Beamish

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will now make a full statement concerning the repatriation of men and women in the Polish Armed Forces outside Poland, and the future of those who do not wish to return to their own country; and, in particular, how many men and women have volunteered to return to Poland since his appeal to them to take this course; and what is the latest date after which no further applications can be considered.

Mr. Bevin

As regards the first part of the Question, I would ask the hon. and gallant Member to await the statement which I am making to the House after Question time today. As regards the second part of the Question, the latest information available indicates that, since the statement which I made in this House on 20th March, about 6,800 of these men and women have so far volunteered to go home. No time limit for further applications has been fixed.

Later—

Mr. Bevin

In this House on 20th March, I expressed the hope of His Majesty's Government that as many members of the Polish Armed Forces under British Command as felt able to do so, would recognise it as their duty to return to Poland in order to take part in the reconstruction of their country. As for those who decided that they could not return, I made it clear that His Majesty's Government could not preserve them as an armed force under British Command. I said that the problem of their settlement would be studied with sympathy. What plans could be made would depend very largely on the numbers of those still remaining but, in any case, a demobilisation plan would be worked out. If these men had been British soldiers, most of them would have been demobilised already under the age and service scheme. The particular circumstances of their case meant that orderly demobilisation would take some time. There was no question of discharging them overnight.

I am now able to give some further details of His Majesty's Government's plan. Those of the Polish troops who have volunteered to return to Poland are being repatriated under arrangements which we have made. They return to Poland as soldiers, sailors and airmen. Since it is for the Polish Provisional Government to decide whether to retain them as members of the Armed Forces or whether to demobilise them, and since in the latter case the Polish Provisional Government has promised them the same rights to grants of land as the demobilised soldiers of the Polish Forces in Poland, men returning to Poland have not hitherto been paid gratuities from British funds. We have, however, recently re-considered this matter and have decided that those men who return to Poland from this time on shall be eligible, subject to their having the necessary periods of qualifying service, for war gratuity, a money grant equivalent to not more than eight weeks' pay in lieu of release leave, and an issue of civilian clothing.

As for those Poles who do not wish to return to Poland, it is our aim to demobilise them as quickly as possible and to arrange for their settlement in civilian life, either in Great Britain or overseas. Those serving abroad will be brought back to this, country, starting with those in Italy. Since it would be both impracticable and unfair to these gallant men, many of whom do not know our language, to launch them wholesale upon the labour market here and leave them to their own resources, His Majesty's Government are going to enrol them into a specially created Resettlement Corps, which will be a British organisation and will for convenience be administered by Service Ministers. Enrolment in this Corps will give an assured status to its members. Conditions of service and rates of pay will be the subject of a detailed announcement later.

The Resettlement Corps will be essentially a transitional arrangement, designed to facilitate the transition from military to civil life. They will therefore be discharged from the Polish Armed Forces and enrolled in the Resettlement Corps with a view to their transfer to civilian life as soon as this becomes possible. Those for whom approved jobs can be found will go to them immediately. The others will be employed by His Majesty's Government to the fullest possible extent in useful productive work such as reconstruction, and in appropriate cases will be given training for-civilian employment pending their eventual return to civil life, whether in British territory or in foreign countries As soon as settlement is complete the Corps will cease to exist.

As a first step to demobilisation and the formation of the Resettlement Corps, His Majesty's Government have decided to bring the Polish 2nd Corps from Italy to the United Kingdom. It is our intention to move their families from Italy to the United Kingdom as soon as administrative arrangements can be made. The ultimate reunion between the men of the Polish Armed Forces and their Polish dependants now in America, Africa, India, Germany, the Middle East and elsewhere overseas is receiving the attention of His Majesty's Government, and the steps which will be necessary to bring it about are now being studied.

His Majesty's Government will continue to give every facility to any Poles who wish, and are able, to return to Poland, and indeed will continue to use their influence with them to go back to their own country. I am happy to state that the Joint Consultative Committee, consisting of the Trades Union Congress and the British Employers Federation, has agreed to cooperate with the Government in carrying out these plans.

Mr. Churchill

I should like to acknowledge the care and attention which His Majesty's Government have given to this very difficult question. I should like to ask in what part of the United Kingdom the second Polish Corps will be quartered immediately on its return. Where will it be placed? Is it to be placed in Scotland, because some parts of Scotland have been for a long time rather overstocked with Polish troops? That is the first question I should like to ask.

Mr. Bevin

That is being worked out by the Chiefs of Staff. They will be distributed all over the country in different units; they will not be kept all together, so as to facilitate absorbing them quickly into private life.

Mr. Churchill

Has the right hon. Gentleman entirely closed his mind to the idea of using these extremely fine, well-disciplined troops as part of the garrison for holding Germany, in portions of Germany far removed from the Russian frontier line? Would not this be a means by which further relief could be given to our own men and a reduction made in the weight of the garrisons abroad which we have to maintain?

Mr. Bevin

I think it would be a very bad thing for British policy if we were to go in for a system of a foreign legion to undertake our responsibilities.

Mr. Julius Silverman

Can the right hon. Gentleman give us any up-to-date information as to how many of these Polish soldiers and officers have elected to return home? Can he also give us any information as to the structure of this Resettlement Corps? Is there any question of the retention of a military structure, or will men and officers be civilians and equal?

Mr. Bevin

While they ate in the Resettlement Corps they will be under mili- tary control, but the Resettlement Corps must come under British law, and the only device I have been able to think of without introducing foreign law—again for the administration of foreign troops in this country—is to transfer them to a corps under British military law, so that they would be responsible to the laws of our country while they are in the resettlement state. Following the resettlement state, they will pass out as quickly as they can—and I hope very quickly, in view of the shortage of labour in so many fields —into civilian life. It was, I thought, the desire of the House that I should do that, and treat them, having played their part, almost pari passu with our own people with whom they have fought.

Mr. Churchill

Would the right hon. Gentleman answer the question, which was asked just now below the Gangway, about the number and proportion who have opted to go back to Poland up to now?

Mr. Bevin

I have given the figures earlier today, but the right hon. Gentleman was not here. Since 20th March, 6,800, and before 20th March, 23,000.

Mr. Churchill

How many are left?

Mr. Bevin

I think, roughly, 100,000 overseas and about 60,000 here, so far as I remember.

Mr. Bootbby

May I ask whether, amongst the training facilities to be provided, training for the industries of coal mining and agriculture will be included?

Mr. Bevin

Certainly. I have been engaged elsewhere whilst studying this thing, but I am in touch with my right hon. Friend the Minister of Labour in order that I can get every facility, training centres and the other facilities, for men to go back quickly into private life.

Major Beamish

May I ask the right hon. Gentleman to bear in mind two particular points? First, that the only reason why these men and women will not return to their own country is because Poland is governed by a small Communist clique—

Mr. Speaker

This hardly seems relevant to the statement that has been made.

Mr. Maclay

May I ask the right hon. Gentleman to draw the special attention of those responsible for the quartering of these troops to the fact that there are certain areas in Scotland where Polish troops have been stationed for a long time? They were glad to welcome them, but it is important that they should not go back there now. There are many reasons for that.

Mr. Bevin

I quite understand, in spite of my age. We will distribute them so that the blessings may be spread equally.

Mr. H. Hynd

As the right hon. Gentleman said that this Resettlement Corps is going to be under British discipline, can he give an assurance that it will not be an armed force?

Mr. Bevin

It will not be an armed force. But one cannot take men out of an armed force in a unique situation—or, may I put it this way? All the British troops who came out of the Army had certain laws passed by this House to protect them, and to enable them to return to their jobs and to arrange for their resettlement, and all the rest of it. We cannot do that in the case of these men. We have to devise an intermediate stage. This intermediate stage has been a great worry. We cannot launch all these people, not even knowing our language, on to the labour market, and leave the whole thing in chaos. That is why we have arranged this intermediate device.

Several Hon. Members

rose—

Mr. Speaker

There is much other Business before us today, and if everybody rises to ask supplementary questions on this matter we shall not accomplish it.

Mr. Churchill

Is that not part of the difficulty that arises from these very important and deeply interesting announcements being made at the end of Questions, and not on any subject which enables them to be commented upon?

Mr. Speaker

I cannot help that.

Professor Savory

There is one question I want to ask. In the case of those who desire to become British subjects, will the hope held out to them by the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Woodford (Mr. Churchill) be realised?

Mr. Bevin

The whole question of naturalisation is a very difficult problem, and I ought not to have to deal with it in answer to a supplementary question. I hope I shall not be pressed upon this. There are other countries which have fought alongside these gallant men, that happily are also willing to play their part in absorbing them. I do not want to name the Governments here. But they have indicated to me elsewhere. They have all been in the same team together in that fight, and the generals have been together, and there is great sympathy in this business. Therefore, I do not want to have to deal with this technical question of naturalisation until I know with what we have to cope.

Captain Francis Noel-Baker

Can the right hon. Gentleman say whether facilities for resettlement, at least as good as those given to these Polish troops, will be afforded to aliens being demobilised from the British Forces?

Mr. Bevin

Well, I think they are.

Mr. Henderson Stewart

The right hon. Gentleman said earlier in his statement that steps would be taken to assist men to find employment if they came to live here. Is it intended that these men will he given the chance to find employment for themselves?

Mr. Bevin

It is very difficult to answer that.

Mr. Gallocher

I want to ask whether, when these men are being placed in any area, there will be consultation with the local authority in order to ensure that the best possible conditions are provided for them?

Mr. Bevin

Yes, I am working with the local authorities. This is not only a question of demobilising the men but we have to provide for their training and the education of their children. The tackling of this job is one of the most difficult things, and cannot be described adequately in answer to supplementary questions

Mr. Churchill

Would not very many of these difficulties be solved if the right hon. Gentleman were to use this force to take some of the weight off us in the duties we have to discharge on the Continent? Will he not consider that? [HON. MEMBERS: "No."] Hon. Members say "No," but I should like the right hon. Gentleman to consider it, because it seems to me that nothing but advantage and simplicity would come from it—much stricter control; there need be no contact with other countries beyond the German border; and there would be relief to the British burden, and also a relief to the British labour market. Surely some consideration might be given to these points?

Mr. Bevin

We have given the utmost and long consideration to this problem, and I must tell the right hon. Gentleman that, in my view, as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, nothing could do more to prevent the establishment of confidence and to accentuate the suspicion that exists already than our taking that course.

Sir W. Wakefield

Have any arrangements been made for this rehabilitation to be done in the United States or in any of the Dominions for any of the Polish troops who desire to be rehabilitated in the United States or in the Dominions?

Mr. Bevin

I would ask not to be pressed about other Governments at the moment. I have had only private conversations. Sometimes, if I answer questions, I kill my own goose.

Mr. Edelman

In view of the French Government's expressed willingness in the past to receive immigrants on a large scale, will the right hon. Gentleman consult with that Government, in order to see whether any of these Polish troops in the Resettlement Corps may go to France if they wish to do so?

Mr. Bevin

Again, I ask not to be pressed about other Governments Let me get on with this job.

15. Mr. H. Hynd

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he is now able to make a further statement on the future position of those members of the Polish armed forces who do not opt to return to Poland.

Mr. Bevin

I would refer my hon. Friend to my statement on this subject in reply to Question 4