Pressure from the British Labour government in 1970 for Catholic enlistment in the UDR in 1970 is revealed in files released today in Belfast.
In a letter to the Stormont Minister of Home affairs, Mr (now Sir) Robert Porter on April 3, 1970, the junior Defence Minister in the British Labour government, Mr Roy Hattersley stressed the need for Catholic members in the new force. In March 1970, an official reported that of the 855 UDR members so far recruited, 734 were Protestants and 119 Catholics.
Among the complaints lodged by former B Specials with the Stormont authorities was one that in the South Derry area a man who had been in the Colour Party at the Republican Easter parade at the Loup had been accepted into the UDR.