Clause 29 - Dispersal of groups and removal of persons under 16 to their place of residence
Anti-social Behaviour Bill
9:10 am
Mr James Clappison (Hertsmere, Conservative)
I was relieved to hear the Liberal Democrat spokesman say that his is a probing amendment, as when I first read it I did not think the Liberal Democrats were being entirely serious. The hon. Gentleman said that he wants to probe the Government on how high the threshold should be, but I think his case was that the threshold should be higher than it is in the Bill—I hope that I am not misrepresenting him. In a way, the probing amendment represents his intentions.
The hon. Gentleman seems to be saying to residents, ''We are not prepared to give the police powers to deal with problems unless they cross a very high threshold indeed. You will have to live with a significant problem and wait until it becomes a 'particularly significant' problem before we are prepared to give the police the power to deal with it.'' The Liberal Democrats' message to people who are concerned about antisocial behaviour is, ''It's tough. You have to put up with it because we are not
prepared to give the police the powers they need to deal with it.''