§ 87. Mr. Wiggasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies on what date Her Majesty's Government decided that it had become necessary for all the Governments of territories in the Commonwealth for which he has responsibility to assume direct responsibility for local security forces; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. ProfumoIt has been the policy of successive Governments in the United Kingdom that Colonial Governments should be primarily responsible for raising and maintaining their own security forces. An exception was made during the last war when most of the colonial land forces were transferred to War Office control for the more effective prosecution of the War. Since 1955 Her Majesty's Government have consulted the Colonial Governments concerned on the reversion of the major War Office-controlled colonial forces to local control.