A few ideas here.
1. The IRA had stockpiles of weapons largely obtained from Communist and US sources (AKs, AMD rifles, RPG-7s, M60s, M1 carbines) and they most certainly did have AR-18 in rifle and carbine form. I believe the British troops in Northern Ireland referred to it as the Widow Maker. The police in Northern Ireland had Mini-14 rifles and also I think M1 carbines. Weapons captured or bought from the Irish para-militaries could provide all sorts of exotic weapons (compared to the normal UK gear).
Also, the Irish Army changed from the L1A1 to the AUG in 1988 I think, so that too could be available for UK campaigns.
2. Heckler & Koch were bought out by Royal Ordnance in 1991 so while the AR-18 may not be available for manufacture, perhaps the HK33 was. It was certainly used by various police agencies in the UK.
3. Most nations keep some sort of war-store typically of equipment that has passed from service when newer versions have been introduced. It is highly likely that that many L1A1 rifles and L4 Bren Guns were placed into the war-stores so they would be available for emergency expansion of the military if necessary.
They may even have kept SMLE rifles, Sten Guns and Vickers Guns because some nations keep hold of these stores for several decades - look at Yugoslavia, they still had large numbers of M10 tank destroyers and T-34 tanks into the 1980s-1990s when the civil war broke out.
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