File of material concerning the Government's announcement of proposals to ban trade unions at the Government Communications Headquarters, (GCHQ) , Jan 1984, on the grounds that trade union action could endanger national security.

Includes:

• Hansard extracts of Parliamentary debates concerning the dispute, including statements made by David Owen
• copy of letter from Ian Wrigglesworth to Secretary of the Council of Civil Service Unions, Peter Jones, expressing his concern at the exclusion of himself and David Owen from the CCSU rally against the Government's decision, 16 Feb 1984
• copy of letter from David Owen to General Secretary of the Engineers' and Managers' Association expressing his position concerning trade union action over the GCHQ trade unions ban, 6 Mar 1984
• letter from Secretary of the United Kingdom Association of Professional Engineers concerning rights to join trade unions, with copy of David Owen's reply setting out the SDP position on allowing GCHQ workers to join a union, Mar 1985
• copy of article by David Owen, `Freedom: a code we must keep' discussing the situation [n.d.]
• background information
• and papers concerning the High Court judicial review of the Government's actions, including copy of David Owen's affidavit in support of the application for judicial review, 5 Mar 1984, copy of the judgement in the case and David Owen's statement in response to the judgement, Jul 1984.