HC Deb 24 July 1986 vol 102 cc579-81
4. Mr. Leighton

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will call for a report from the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis as to the maximum number of police officers deployed at any one time on duties in connection with the News International industrial dispute, and the relationship which this number bears to the local number of Metropolitan police officers available for duty at the time in question.

Mr. Hurd

There were 1,870 officers deployed outside the News International plant at Wapping on 6 April. An additional 590 officers were involved in policing a march to Wapping. Information about the total number of officers available for duty that day could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Leighton

Is the Secretary of State aware that the effort of turning Wapping into a no-go area is denuding our hard-pressed constituencies of a police service? Will he explain why we cannot have an up-to-date estimate of the total cost of the Wapping operation? What is the result of the internal inquiry into police behaviour on 3 May, and what disciplinary action has been taken?

Mr. Hurd

Any complaints about the actions of the police on 3 May or on any other occasion at Wapping or elsewhere should be examined through the procedures which the House has laid down. I am not sure what the hon. Gentleman is aiming at. If he is saying that the police should not police events at Wapping, he is saying, in effect, that the plant there should be left open to attack and that people who want to work there should be prevented from doing so. I cannot think that he is really arguing that. The number of police officers who should be deployed at Wapping must be a matter for the judgment of the commissioner. Any hon. Member who believes in the operational independence of chief officers must support that.

Mr. Wheeler

Does my right hon. Friend agree that, whatever the merits of the argument about the industrial dispute at Wapping, there would be no need for such a massive police presence if the Opposition would call off their supporters and associates? Peace would be restored, and that would be in the interests of Londoners and crime prevention as a whole.

Mr. Hurd

I agree. The number of police officers now engaged at Wapping is lower than that which I gave to the hon. Member for Newham, North-East (Mr. Leighton), because the hon. Gentleman asked for the maximum number deployed at any one time. The number is still high, and tactics have changed. Instead of having demonstrations on Wednesday and Saturday nights, several hundred people now arrive and start an operation at differing times of the day and week with no notice. This makes it difficult for the police to handle the situation and it weakens the policing effort in the rest of London. If those who are engaged in the dispute feel that they have to pursue it, I wish that they would discuss with the police ways of doing so, ways in which they could exercise their rights without weakening the police and, therefore, the effort that is being made to combat crime in the rest of London.

Mr. Mikardo

Is the Secretary of State aware that a couple of weeks ago in the same borough a half-mile march by about 200 women and 100 children was invigilated by a force of more than 40 police, most of whom inviligated it by sitting motionless in a coach, which proceeded to follow the tail of the procession very slowly, to the jeers of many onlookers? Is that an economic use of police manpower?

Mr. Hurd

I think that criticisms of the police are about evenly divided between those who say that they do too much and those who say they do too little. These are difficult operational decisions. In my view, and that of the occupants of the Opposition Front Bench, they can, because they are operational questions, be left only to the operational decision of the chief officer of police.

Dr. Michael Clark

Is my right hon. Friend aware that at 5.15 yesterday afternoon the East India Dock road was blocked by a mass of pickets using crowd barriers to form their obstruction? I was driving the first car to appear on the scene and I was able to escape by going over the pavement and down a side road, but all the cars behind me had to turn round and go back. When the Queen's highway is blocked in this way, is it not essential that police remain in the area to ensure free passage?

Mr. Hurd

I agree entirely with my hon. Friend. The police are acting to prevent breaches of the peace and obstruction of the highway. It is in the interests of citizens as a whole that they should maintain that activity. At Wapping, 346 police officers have been injured so far and there have been 1,098 arrests. I cannot think that the way in which the dispute is being conducted on the union side helps the unions' case or the cause of printers in any way. It certainly makes it more difficult for the Metropolitan police to fight crime in the rest of London.

Mr. Corbett

How can the Home Secretary acquiesce in the withdrawal of a substantial number of Metropolitan police officers from fighting and preventing crime on the streets of the capital without trying to exert pressure on Mr. Murdoch to open proper negotiations?

Mr. Hurd

I wish that the dispute could be settled. I have said so many times. If the Labour Front Bench is saying that the commissioner should let the situation at Wapping go unpoliced so that the plant can be attacked and the electricians and others working there can be prevented from entering, it should say so openly instead of making such guarded remarks.