HL Deb 28 April 1948 vol 155 cc462-3

2.11 p.m.

LORD MANCROFT

My Lords, I beg leave to ask His Majesty's Government the question standing in my name on the Order Paper.

[The question was as follows:

To ask His Majesty's Government, how many deserters are still at large, and whether His Majesty's Government contemplate any change of policy in this matter.]

THE LORD PRIVY SEAL (VISCOUNT ADDISON)

My Lords, nominally, approximately 20,000 deserters from the Forces are now outstanding. A recent analysis of this total, however, establishes that of these over 10,000 were men who had home addresses outside this country when they joined the Services. Most of these have probably found their way back to their former homes, where we have no control over them. For other reasons, too, the nominal total is probably too high For example, it is frequently found that a single individual has deserted more than once, having re-entered the Forces under an assumed name. For these reasons it is doubtful, in the view of the Government, whether the number of deserters at large in this country is in fact much higher than 8,000. No change in policy is contemplated.

LORD MANCROFT

My Lords, while thanking the noble Viscount for that comprehensive reply may I ask him the following supplementary questions? For how much longer are His Majesty's Government prepared to tolerate the existence in this country of a minimum number of 8,000 deserters, who are a danger not only to themselves but to the community, and who are adding to the burden placed upon our overtaxed police force? May it not be time for the Government to take the risk of granting now the amnesty which they must one day inevitably grant, before these men lose the last shreds of their self-respect and degenerate into habitual criminals?

VISCOUNT ADDISON

My Lords, all I can say is that all the considerations which the noble Lord has mentioned have been repeatedly before us. We shall do our best.

THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY

My Lords, I should like to ask the noble Viscount whether he will transmit those considerations again to his colleagues, because there is increasing anxiety about these large bodies of men who are potential outlaws in the country at the present time.

VISCOUNT ADDISON

Yes; I am afraid that I am all too painfully aware of the circumstances which the noble Marquess has just mentioned.