Orders of the Day — Territorial Army

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 16 December 1965.

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Photo of Mr William Hamling Mr William Hamling , Woolwich West 12:00, 16 December 1965

I know all about that. That is the rôle of the home defence forces, however. It is not the rôle of fighting troops. The right hon. Member for Bexley (Mr. Heath) said that the rôle of the Territorial Army should be as fighting troops. Let hon. Members read the OFFICIAL REPORT tomorrow.

The Government are reorganising the country's defence forces, surely a most desirable project. It is something which ought to have been done years ago. It is remarkable how many things in the past 12 months have fallen to the present Government to do which should have been done years ago. The hon. Member for Ayr quoted in his support a certain noble Lord, but it is remarkable that that noble Lord supports the Government's and not the Opposition's attitude on this subject.

As my right hon. Friend the Member for Easington (Mr. Shinwell) said, we have to judge this matter on the grounds of efficiency. Is the present cost of the Territorial Army justified, given the rôle that it is now fulfilling and given its present constitution? I am quite satisfied that my right hon. Friend is fully justified in presenting this policy in the White Paper. It has been said that it will affect recruiting, but I have already explained that a similar policy did not affect R.N.V.S.R. recruiting. Will not men prefer to join effective, well-equipped reserve forces rather than forces only a shadow of what they were?

Hon. Members opposite have talked about an emergency during which there might be a need for very large land-based forces. If that were so, their own Government singularly failed to carry out the necessary tasks. They starved the conventional forces. They ran down the Navy. We had a situation when the C.-in-C. Home Fleet was flying his flag in a minesweeper. I wonder what Churchill would have said of that if he had been in Opposition. He would have filled The Times with his protests every day.