§ 12. Mr. Durantasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the Edmund-Davies Committee will report.
§ Mr. Merlyn ReesI hope to receive the reports on negotiating machinery and on pay by the end of this month.
§ Mr. DurantDoes the Home Secretary appreciate that this is a matter of some urgency? The crime figures in Reading are up 12 per cent. in the last quarter, and a number of police officers are awaiting this report, holding their resignations back to see what the Government do. Will the Home Secretary now categorically say that the Government will implement the Edmund-Davies Report when it is received?
§ Mr. ReesI think that the hon. Gentleman does an ill service in talking in that way. Last year the Police Federation was told very clearly. It wanted this deep-seated investigation. We have said that we shall accept it, and that the phasing is a matter for discussion. I say to the hon. Gentleman again that if he does what the Tory Party did on defence—bring law and order into the market place in the way in which he is doing—he will do no good service to this country.