Clause 1 - Amendment of the Criminal Law Act 1967
Criminal Law (Amendment) (Householder Protection) Bill
9:30 am
Mr Paul Goggins (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office; Wythenshawe and Sale East, Labour)
I beg to move amendment No. 10, in clause 1, page 1, line 8, leave out from ‘force’ to end of line 11 and insert
‘if the degree of force used was reasonable in the circumstances.’.
May I welcome you to the Chair, Mr. Pike? In light of your comments, I thank you for the huge contribution that you have made during your time in the House representing the proud town of Burnley, which has a football team with huge aspirations. You are a great supporter of that team. I also thank Mr. Cook, who acted speedily after our last attempt to debate the Bill to ensure that we had another opportunity to do so. I am sure that we will show in our deliberations that we intend to make speedy progress in consideration of the remaining matters.
Amendment No. 10 takes us to the heart of the Bill by proposing that we restore to the Bill the test of reasonableness that applies under section 3 of the Criminal Law Act 1967. The hon. Member for Newark (Patrick Mercer) is proposing to allow the use of force that is less than grossly disproportionate in defence of persons and property. The amendment takes us to the heart of the difference between the new test that he proposes and the test enshrined in the 1967 Act.
We should begin by reminding ourselves of matters on which the whole Committee agrees in relation to burglary, which is a horrendous experience for anyone to go through. It is a horrendous crime. People suffer enormous trauma when their house is burgled. We have shared personal experiences in the Committee, and our constituents have talked to us about it. We should particularly acknowledge that people feel vulnerable and under threat when their home is broken into in the middle of the night. There is no difference of opinion between hon. Members on that.
Nor is there any difference between us on the need for the householder to be able to act in self-defence with confidence that the law is on their side. We all acknowledge that the law needs to be understood and that the householder needs to be able to act with confidence. The key question is whether the proposal at the heart of the Bill to institute the new test of less than grossly disproportionate gives the householder any more confidence.