Clause 19 - Closure of certain licensed premises due todisorder or disturbance
Criminal Justice and Police Bill
4:45 pm
Mr Charles Clarke (Minister of State, Home Office; Norwich South, Labour)
I will make a further point in a moment about ``in the vicinity of'' in relation to amendments Nos. 34A, 35, 36, 76 and 77. I return to my fundamental point that the closure power can be exercised only if closure is in the interests of public safety. It is clear that closure has implications for the licensee, but it is not designed to penalise a licensee for, say, running his or her establishment incompetently. It is intended to deal with the existing problem of the risk to public safety, which in the police's judgment needs to be addressed.