Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Home Department – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 3 February 1983.
In no case can it be a question of "cannot", although in some cases it may be used to serve as a spurious cover for political hostility to civil defence. It is a question of priorities, but all local authorities recognise, or should recognise, that they have to conform to the Government's economic strategy.