§ THE EARL OF SELBORNEMy Lords, I wish to ask His Majesty's Government a Question of which I have given private notice. It is—
Whether it is the fact that the Home Secretary is going to receive a further deputation from the Police Representative Board tomorrow, and, if so, whether the proceedings will be made public.
In asking this Question, let me say with what regret we have all read in the papers this morning the menacing language of the statement; issued by the officials of the Police and Prison Officers Union. If those officials had wished to justify the statement of the Commissioner that the Metropolitan Police had by their recent action gone far to shake the great confidence hitherto reposed in them by the public, they could scarcely have done so more surely than by the use of such language. His Majesty's Government may feel assured that they have the whole of public opinion behind them both in their desire to place the conditions of service of the Force on the best possible footing and in maintaining its discipline.
THE EARL OF JERSEYMay I first, on behalf of the Government, thank the noble Earl for the statement with which lie concluded his Question, the answer to which is as follows: The Police Representative Board, I through the proper channel, have asked the Secretary of State to receive a deputation upon a matter which lie can properly discuss with them. This is the ordinary constitutional course for the Representative Board to pursue. It will rest with the Secretary of State to decide whether an account of the proceedings will afterwards be made public.