ARMY RESERVE (PROCLAMATION) (Hansard, 2 August 1956)

§ The Secretary of State for War (Mr. Antony Head)
I have it in command from Her Majesty to inform the House, in pursuance of the Act of Parliament in that behalf, that the present state of public affairs and the extent of the demands on the military forces for the protection of the interests of the Commonwealth and Empire constituting, in the opinion of Her Majesty, a case of great emergency within the meaning of that Act, Her Majesty deems it proper to provide additional means for the military service, and, therefore, Her Majesty is by Proclamation about to order that the Army Reserve shall be called out on permanent service.

§ Mr. John Strachey (Dundee, West)
Those are formidable words which the Secretary of State for War has just read out. As I understand them, they give very wide powers indeed to the Government, which they will exercise during the long period in which Parliament will be in Recess. I understand, from the Prime Minister's speech this morning, that the intention of the Government is a much more limited one. He defined that intention clearly, as I understood him—and I hope he will correct me if I am wrong—as the intention to call out Army Reserve A and a very limited part of B, and said that it was B which required this Proclamation. This is, therefore, a very wide Proclamation indeed which will cover the calling out of many hundreds of thousands of men. It is, in fact, concerned with the calling out of only a few thousand at the most of a special category which, the Prime Minister hinted, it had been hoped by legislation to bring into category A at an earlier date.
All I would say about that is that we are not, of course, challenging the military preparations which, no doubt, are mere steps of common prudence; but to some extent the House must take note of the intention of the Government on the actual powers which are called for here. It is, I think, something of which the House ought to take the most careful account, that these very wide powers of call-up, extending to a very large section of the young men of the nation, are being asked for and will reside in the hands of the Executive during this long period when Parliament will not be sitting.
If at any time during the Recess the Government should feel it necessary to use these powers much more widely than to the extent which the Prime Minister defined this morning, we on this side of the House should feel very strongly that an occasion had arisen when those representations for the recall of Parliament, which have been referred to, should be made.
We should not think that, under a Proclamation of this wide character, brought in on the last day when Parliament is sitting before the Recess, the much wider step of what would go far towards mobilisation should be taken without further reference to the House; because the Prime Minister's definition of the much 1677 more limited steps which the Government at present intend to take is all, in a sense, that the House has really authorised.
Therefore, we should feel that the Government, though not, of course, formally bound, would be bound to take seriously into account the representation of the Opposition, that, if anything like the powers which are written into this Proclamation were used, Parliament would have to be recalled. I very much hope that we can have an assurance from the Government on those lines.

§ Mr. George Wigg (Dudley)
We do not quite know—

§ Mr. Snow
On a point of order. Do we understand, Mr. Speaker, that the debate on Suez is now at an end?

§ Mr. Speaker
No. That is not the case. It may be convenient if I make a statement now on the subject.
As the House knows, the arrangements have been upset by the change of plans, both here and in another place. The result of this, coupled with the fact that two hon. Members, to whom I had allotted Adjournment subjects under the previous scheme, have withdrawn their subjects, is that now we have time in hand which will enable us to carry on this debate until 6.30 without entrenching on the rights previously announced to hon. Members who had been allotted Adjournment subjects. Therefore, it was my intention to let this debate run on until 6.30 and then, as soon thereafter as convenient, to proceed with those matters previously allotted to hon. Members.

§ Mr. Wigg
The Government have found it necessary to call out the whole of the Army Reserve, including the Army Emergency Reserve, a total of 400,000 men. The numbers I am giving, of course, are not the actual strength, but the numbers shown in the Army Estimates. I make no complaint that the actual numbers are not available owing to security reasons. Of course, what the Government are now after is to make sure that they have the technicians they want, and at first sight it would seem that to recall Section A of the Army Reserve would be sufficient.
The power to recall Section A without proclamation springs from an Act passed during the lifetime of the Labour Government. 1678 Section A covers two classes of men. First, it covers those Regular Reservists who volunteer and who by so doing accept liability for service overseas on recall without Proclamation. These men, if they are private soldiers, receive 1s. 6d. a day for accepting that liability. Those Reservists are recalled by the serving of a notice from the Record Office and, on rejoining their units, they can forthwith be sent overseas.
At that time, the Labour Government thought they could not rely exclusively on these volunteers, so they introduced what are called "designated Reservists", those men whom the Army Council think it might want to recall as if they were in Section A. The procedure is, as it were, to say, "Smith, Jones, Brown, we may want you, and we designate you, and although you have not volunteered you are liable for recall if Section A is called out."
There was a proviso in that Measure that the Government appear to have overlooked. Those powers exist only in the first year of the man's reserve service. It appears now—I should like to know from the Government whether I am right or wrong—that somebody in the Record Office has slipped up and failed to note that time has passed by, so that Smith, Jones and Brown, who were designated Section A when they came on the Army Reserve, are no longer liable for recall for they are no longer in the first year of their reserve service. Now the Government want them back, but have not the power to recall them.
I suspect that the numbers that are wanted are very small indeed, perhaps in tens or hundreds. These specialists who are required certainly do not number thousands. Yet doubt will be created in the minds of the men who will read of this Proclamation tonight. Not only Section A, but the whole Army Reserve will be wondering, "Am I going to be recalled?" If they have not been designated they do not know, and that is a degree of uncertainty which is quite unreasonable.
On all sides of the House we have been saying recently that we must look after the Regular soldiers, and if we mean that, we cannot leave 450,000 Army Reservists and their families in uncertainty. I ask the Secretary of State for a reasonable assurance. By this time 1679 the Records Office must know precisely the numbers, names and addresses of the men who are wanted. Will the Secretary of State say that in the next 24, 48 or 96 hours all the men in Section B or in the Army Emergency Reserve, whom the Government want virtually to designate to Section A, will be informed by telegram or registered letter so that at the expiration of perhaps a week from now every one of those 450,000 men who has not received a telegram or a registered letter will be able to go on holiday and breathe freely?
The right hon. Gentleman knows very well the effect on the Regular Army of the 1950 decision to freeze Regular discharges. Every time that we treat the Regular soldier, who, it must be remembered, is a volunteer, in an arbitrary way we pile up trouble for ourselves because the Regulars assume that, despite all the fine things that we say about them when we are faced with an emergency, their rights and feelings do not matter. I hope that in the next Session the Government will put right the administrative mistake which has now been revealed and will proceed to amend the Reserve Forces Act.

§ Mr. Head
I am obliged to the right hon. Member for Dundee, West (Mr. Strachey) and the hon. Member for Dudley (Mr. Wigg) for the moderate and, if I may say so, sensible way in which they have commented upon the statement which I have just made. I would agree with the right hon. Gentleman that these powers are extremely wide. I should like to make it clear that the Government's intention is, of course, not in any way at this stage to use the powers which extend over a very large number of men indeed. I entirely appreciate the right hon. Gentleman's request that if there is a considerable extension of these powers the Government should consider the whole question of information being given to Parliament about it.
I should like to make it absolutely clear that under present intentions nobody other than those in Section A and Section B of the Regular Reserve and Categories I and II of the Army Emergency Reserve is contemplated to be called up and that the numbers in Section B of the Regular Reserve and 1680 Category II of the Army Emergency Reserve are small.
The right hon. Gentleman has spoken of the powers of the Proclamation and has said, indeed, that a Proclamation of this seriousness was designed to be used for something equivalent to general mobilisation. It is true, as my right hon. Friend has informed the House, that we are really using very large powers to obtain a comparatively small component which we consider essential. The hon. Member for Dudley asked me about the question of designation. He asked, "Why should you not have got this comparatively small number of volunteers by designation?" As he knows, designation lasts only for one year and designation used to the full and with great prescience would not have solved the problem which we have now of a comparatively small number over a rather wide field.
The hon. Member for Dudley has said, and I am sure that many right hon. and hon. Members feel the same, that we must do everything in our power to inform these men who will be required at the very earliest opportunity. I feel very strongly that it is incumbent upon myself to ensure that the numbers to be recalled are cut to the absolute minimum. We are very well aware that it is an absolute obligation upon us to do all this as quickly as we can. I cannot give a guarantee of the number of days because, as will be appreciated, there are details which will have to be worked out, but the two principles are, first, that the numbers be cut to the minimum possible consistent with efficiency and, secondly, that every man should be notified at the earliest possible opportunity.

§ Mr. Strachey
Do the right hon. Gentleman's words mean that the Government have agreed that they would favourably entertain a request for the recall of Parliament if they have to go beyond the categories which he has just announced?

§ Mr. Head
Yes, I think the point is that if the Government, numerically and in general scope, had to go widely beyond the powers outlined to the House by the Prime Minister and myself they would then, of course, at once consider the recall of Parliament.

§ Sir R. Boothby
Should it be necessary to call up any part of the Naval Reserve or the Royal Air Force Reserve, will that require a Proclamation?

§ Mr. Head
No, Sir. That is covered under the existing Proclamation should the necessity arise.

§ Mr. Speaker
I think that the House should resume the general debate. Will hon. Members on my right who offer themselves to speak please stand?

§ Mr. Speaker
Major Legge-Bourke.