Schedule 7 - Minor and consequential amendments
Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Bill [Lords]
4:30 pm
Mr Dominic Grieve (Shadow Attorney General, Home, Constitutional & Legal Affairs; Beaconsfield, Conservative)
I appreciate the Minister's point and to some extent it is a matter of perception. Many people in this country drive and must observe regulations, but inadvertence or misjudgement may lead them to break those regulations. The poorer members of the community, not my wealthy constituents, find that the fixed penalty is a real imposition on their budget. It is of no concern to wealthier people; similarly, the £5 surcharge will be of no financial concern to them, even if it irritates them. I assure the Minister that many of my constituents are not wealthy and are on well below average incomes, but feel just as strongly about this issue. The point is that their perception of the extent of their criminality is clearly very different from the one espoused by the Minister and the hon. and learned Member for Redcar, and I am not sure that their view is necessarily wrong. In a regulated environment we all quite frequently commit regulatory breaches. That is what troubles me about this measure, and I do not think that it commands public support.
If the Minister goes down this road and implements the proposal, it will almost certainly become an election issue, and if it does, the Government will be the losers. I am trying to do the Government a favour by pointing out the shortcomings to them.