New Schedule 1 - ‘Weapons, etc: corresponding provisions for northern ireland
Violent Crime Reduction Bill
9:00 pm
Humfrey Malins (Shadow Minister, (Assisted By Shadow Law Officers); Woking, Conservative)
I cannot let this moment go by, Mr. Benton, without thanking you and your co-Chairman, Mr. Forth, on behalf of all of us for the extremely courteous and efficient way in which you have chaired proceedings. Our thanks to a number of others, too; we thank Mr. Farrar—he has been an outstanding Clerk and has assisted all of us when we have had cause to ask his advice—the Doorkeepers, the Hansard Reporters and the police for their work.
I thank the hon. Member for Hornsey and Wood Green for her contributions on behalf of her party. I warmly thank my hon. Friends for their support and contributions; my hon. Friends the Members for Rugby and Kenilworth and for Hertsmere have contributed in different ways. In particular, I must thank our Whip, my hon. Friend the Member for Hertford and Stortford, because I may have a career ahead of me, and it is dependent on his reaction to what I say. I have a special word for my hon. Friend the Member for Huntingdon, who has taken so much of the burden on his shoulders, in relation to the clauses on firearms.
Finally, I thank the Minister and her colleagues. She has approached the whole Committee with courtesy and kindness, and it has not been a bad-tempered Committee. She is excellent, to the extent that she is entirely capable of sounding convincing even when her argument has no merit. We have had a series of good debates and look forward to getting back to them on Report.