Clause 26
7:15 pm
James Brokenshire (Shadow Minister, Home Affairs; Hornchurch, Conservative)
I am grateful to the Minister. As we consider this part of the Bill, we can certainly debate at length some of his points about apparent effectiveness. A lot of people would, I think, question the effectiveness of some of the measures. However, he said—I agree—that the ACPO lead said that he welcomed the measures during our evidence session. Did the police ask for the powers in advance of them being drafted? If the Minister is saying that one of the reasons why the measure is being introduced is to get more cases to court, was the message from the police, “We need this increase in the fine to help us to persuade the Crown Prosecution Service to take more cases to court”?