§ 2. Mr. Townsendasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is satisfied with police-military co-operation in the area of internal intelligence gathering.
§ The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. Roy Jenkins)No such co-operation exists in England and Wales, although members of the Armed Services, like other people, will naturally pass on to the police such information relevant to the prevention and detection of crimes as comes into their possession.
§ Mr. TownsendIn the event of the IRA's stepping up its bombing campaign, will the right hon. Gentleman keep an open mind about the possibility of allowing military intelligence personnel to play a part in the intelligence-gathering process in Britain?
§ Mr. JenkinsI try to keep an open mind on many questions, but the position in Northern Ireland is exceptional—justified in the circumstances, but one that we would not wish to see automatically extended to this country. The police are responsible for the prevention and detection of crime. The Armed Services have no function in that respect in Great Britain at present, except those functions which rest upon ordinary citizens. Unless circumstances were to develop in a way which I greatly hope they will not, comparable with those in Northern Ireland, 1787 we would not wish to see the military exercising a function that it did not normally exercise in civilised and relatively peaceful societies.