Clause 2 - Registers of motor salvage operators
Vehicles (Crime) Bill
10:45 am
Mr Michael Fabricant (Lichfield, Conservative)
I, too, would be unhappy if a charge were made on the police. We know that the police are in crisis. The Police Federation has written a detailed report in The House Magazine, and I had the privilege to raise the matter on Second Reading.
There are a number of salvage yards in my constituency; there are also only two or three police officers in the whole of Lichfield to provide safety for people on a Friday or Saturday night. Since the last general election, we have lost 250 police officers from the Staffordshire police force; only 90 will be replaced through the recent panic initiatives introduced by the Government after the fall in police numbers. [Laughter.] The Minister who laughs is the one who pressured the chief constable in my area not to supply me with information to that effect, which is a scandal.