Clause 1 - Extension of powers to stop and search
Criminal Justice Bill
11:30 am
Mr Simon Hughes (North Southwark and Bermondsey, Liberal Democrat)
Welcome to the Chair, Mr. Illsley. I am happy to be on the Committee. I was just reflecting that the Solicitor-General and I are the only members of the Committee who were in the House when the
Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 was passed—I beg the pardon of the hon. Member for Woking (Mr. Malins), who I now recall was also here. I was not responsible for our response to that Bill, but it was very important, and as the hon. Member for Beaconsfield said, it followed events including the Brixton riots and inquiries.
Stop and search is an important and sensitive issue—particularly sensitive in communities of mixed race and ethnic backgrounds. When we consider what we should do, we need principles and an understanding of the background. My first point is simple: we should never have any law unless it is really justified. As a liberal, I believe that the fewer powers the state has, the better; the fewer laws we have, the better; and the fewer things that are illegal, the better. Of course we must keep up with changing practices, but I am against the presumption that it is necessary to make knives illegal because they could be used for wrong purposes—knives have perfectly proper purposes—or to make it illegal to carry garden items in the street. I start from the presumption that it is important to maximise the liberty of the individual and to minimise the power of the state.
I also take the view that it is right to maximise the liberty of the individual and minimise the powers of the police. They are not agents of the state. They are independent, but they need only the power sufficient to do their job, and not more. I shall always be sceptical about proposals for more police powers. I should have to hear an overwhelming case for that before I could be persuaded to sign up to it.
We need to understand not only the relevant words but the intention behind and motivation for the provision. My understanding is that the proposal concerns criminal damage only, being designed to give the police more powers to pre-empt antisocial behaviour and stop it escalating into lower-level criminal damage because of items that people carry around.
I share other hon. Members' understanding of the motive for the proposal and I do not dissent from it. My hon. Friend the Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr. Heath) and I do not dissent from including criminal damage in general terms, as in the two examples given by the hon. Member for Beaconsfield. The Minister reassured us that such examples will be included; going equipped to rob is part of a panoply of items, as is whether the police should have powers to stop and search.