§ 4. Mr. Laurance Reedasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will call for a report from the chief constable on the number of police required to attend the fund-raising meeting in Bolton addressed by the hon. Member for Mid-Ulster (Miss Devlin) at the end of January.
§ Mr. MaudlingThe Chief Constable of Lancashire tells me that 12 police officers were on duty at Bolton Town Hall for this meeting.
§ Mr. ReedIs my right hon. Friend aware that many of my constituents have sons and relatives serving in Ulster at this moment and that they have been outraged to learn that three Labour councillors attended this meeting, donning green armbands and passing round the hat? Would he not share my view that behaviour of this kind from anyone in a position of public responsibility is an 1652 utter disgrace and that we would welcome a condemnation of it from the Labour Party?
§ Mr. MaudlingThe general reaction to collection of moneys on behalf of the I.R.A. would be well understood in this House. As for the law on collections, I made this clear, so far as I could, the other day in reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Aldershot (Mr. Critchley).